Tears of starlight
by The-Allenfangirl
Summary: Lavi's mission is simple: retrieve some books from various cities and bring them back to the agency, called the Black order. Though unneeded in his opinion, the agency decides to assign him a partner with its own mission. However, everyone seems to have forgotten to tell him the most important part: Allen is a dragon descended from the stars. Laven, AU
1. Chapter 1

**This is my contribution to the DGrayMan Big Bang 2018 that was organized on tumblr. limesicle made beautiful art for this fic, so make sure to check it out! The chapters aren't even in length, because I wanted each one of them to fit one of the artworks.  
** **I hope you'll enjoy reading my fic**

* * *

Lavi looked at his watch, then folded his arms again. The pole he was leaning against was starting to draw all the warmth from his back, making the wait even more uncomfortable. He'd missed one train already, if that other guy from The Order wouldn't arrive soon he would miss the other of today too and they'd have to wait for tomorrow to leave.

If only he had just gone on his own he might already have found one of the books, but Komui, nor Bookman, would listen to him when he said he didn't need this "Allen" as a bodyguard. That he was perfectly fine on his own. He wasn't too surprised the agency valued him enough to protect him when he went out looking for information, but he had expected better from the old man. However, the only thing Bookman had said was to pay extra good attention to this Allen, because apparently he was very interesting.

Too bad he couldn't observe this guy if he never even showed up.

A high, unbearable screech announced the arrival of yet another train in the station. As its doors opened, people streamed out in an unorderly chaos. Lavi's green eye scanned the crowd, looking for the familiar black uniform with the silver cross that marked every member of The Black Order. He sighed and slumped back against the pole when it seemed it was another miss this time, but then a hand stopped the closing doors and forced them back open. The person almost fell out of the train in his hurry, then needed to take a moment to straighten his long black coat that made his icy white hair stand out even more. He sighed and looked around as if he was searching for something.

With relief Lavi finally disconnected himself from the cold pole and made his way over, maneuvering between the groups of people, all moving to their own destination.

"Hey there, I take it you're Allen?"  
The boy turned his head quickly in surprise, then he smiled so radiantly that even his bright hair seemed dull compared to it. "Then you're Lavi?"  
Despite his annoyance the redhead couldn't help but grin. "That's me."

Allen sighed again, radiating relief in such heavy waves that Lavi almost got worried. "Thank the stars. I thought I would never arrive. I took the wrong train somewhere and I got hopelessly lost. I almost didn't notice this was the right stop either."

Well, at least that explained some of the boy's tardiness.

"Good you found your way anyway. Our train is leaving in ten minutes. If we go over there now, we should still make it easily."

"Okay! I'll be following you, before I get all lost again." He laughed hesitantly as he stroked a hand through his hair, probably to tidy it, but it just got messier instead.

That seemed like a good idea. He didn't feel like spending even more time on a train station. He just wanted to get on his way so he could do useful stuff, like reading or looking for the books he had to find for The Order.

"This way then." He took the lead, noticing with satisfaction that Allen was following him, though the boy kept looking around like he'd never been on a station ever before.

No wonder he had gotten lost earlier.

As they weaved through the crowd, he finally took the time to estimate his new partner.

A nasty looking scar marred the guy's left eye, pulling deep red stripes over the surrounding skin and ending in a pentacle on his forehead… Strange shape for a scar. However, that, and the so-bright-it-hurt-the-eye white hair, seemed to be the only outstanding details. He couldn't help but frown at the thought of this boy being his body guard. Allen was so scrawny he doubted the guy could even lift a weapon and his cute face made him look like he needed protection more than anyone else.

"Lavi, is anything wrong?" Two curious silver eyes fixed on his one after they seemed to have subjected him to a comparable check.

"No, nothing's wrong." He stopped as they reached the platform their train would leave from, staring in the distance to see if it was arriving, then he turned to his partner."No, actually, there's one thing I'd like to say."

Allen nodded and seemed to pay him all his interest.

"I'm sorry if this sounds a bit crude, but I don't really need protection. I don't mind you tagging along with me, but I just wanted to let you know you don't need to worry about me. I'm perfectly fine taking care of myself." So, he'd said it.

Luckily, Allen smiled in response. "I could tell that much. Don't worry, I never thought you couldn't take care of yourself. I think you misunderstood anyway. I was never assigned to you to really protect you, we're just assigned to each other because our missions take us in the same direction and Komui would like us to keep an eye out for each other. It's safer to travel together."

"Really?" Well, that would explain a lot more.

"Yeah, that's all. But I look forward to working with you." There it was again. That smile that showed all those too-white-to-be-human teeth and melted all of his negative feelings towards the boy.

"Me too."

At that point the train pulled over next to them and opened the doors.

"Let's get inside, before you get lost again."

An embarrassed blush spread on his partner's cheeks, but he laughed. "Yeah, that's probably a good idea."

* * *

Being a member of The Order had its benefits. A first class compartment got prepared for them the moment they entered the train, so Allen and Lavi were the only ones in the little room. They sat on the couches opposite of each other next to the window. As Lavi dug out a book and started reading, Allen refrained himself to staring to the outside world as it passed by.

However, he soon realized he wasn't picking up much from his text. He caught himself lowering the book a tiny bit every time to steal a glance at his partner, wondering what exactly had to be so special about him that the old man had found worthy enough to mention. A few minutes went by, without anything changing at all, then he finally put the book on his lap, giving in to his curiosity.

"So, Allen, what does a beansprout like you have to do in those places the Order is sending us?"  
The boy lifted his head from the hand he'd been leaning on. "Beansprout?" he repeated with a frown.

"Yeah, well, you know…" Lavi clarified, "You don't look like much of a fighter. I always thought most members of The Orders were good at combat, protecting all the innocent people and all."

The frown deepened even more and the boy sounded a bit defensive as he answered: "You're mistaking. I can fight perfectly fine. I was sent on a mission to defeat enemies of The Order."

Lavi grinned. "You must be kidding. What kind of weapon do you specialize in?"  
"None really. I don't usually use any human weapons. And what about you?" The silver eyes narrowed a little. "You don't look much like a fighter yourself."

Ouch, he could have known he would get the sentiment returned. However, he was right. "I'm not much of a fighter indeed. My grandfather is a librarian at The Order. I help him out and at some moments that means I need to go out and look for new information. But I have a hammer in case I need to protect myself, which is at least more than a certain beansprout."

Allen didn't seem to like the joke so much. "Sounds like I must have been mistaking. If you're just a librarian Komui probably thought you could use a strong partner for protection."

This guy was taking it all way too serious. "Well, now you've done it." He grabbed the first soft thing he could feel in his bag and threw it at his partner.

The feather hit him on his pale, delicate nose and made him sneeze. "What was that for?!"  
Lavi grinned and leaned back in his seat. "Payback for thinking you're any better than me. How old even are you? I bet I'm older than you."

"You wish."

He hadn't really planned on starting off on the wrong foot with Allen, but the way the boy snapped at his teasing was just way too amusing. "Oh, so that's why you have the white hair."

"Oh, shut up."

With a soft swirl the feather floated through the air and almost hit Lavi's eye. He blew at it in reflex.

"You know, if you want to look old you'd better get a mustache. That might help." He let one of his hands glide in his bag. As soon as he felt what he was looking for, he started loosening the lid of the tiny bottle.

Allen had crossed his arms now and leaned his face against the window, not paying much attention to his partner anymore. "I think I've got enough whiskers as it is."

"No way. You're definitely missing something." It wasn't smart of the boy to look out of the window. Because of it he didn't see the feather approaching in time and the moment he finally pulled back in shock he already had a first black stripe above his lip.

He looked at the redhead with an incredulous expression, then felt at the line that smudged over his fingers.

Lavi grinned challengingly, swirling the feather between his fingers.

However, with his small body, the beansprout was faster than he'd expected. Suddenly the boy was right on him already, feather stolen from his hands and the tip scratching over his face. Lavi dug to the couch, rolled out from under Allen and hit the ground. As the boy tried to regain his balance he reached forward and snatched the feather out of his hands.

"You thought you could beat me to it?" He dodged another attack from his partner, dug under his arms and took that chance to draw another line on the pale face. "You'll be getting a mustache first."

"Get off me."

Suddenly a pale hand was planted in his face, making his grip on his weapon loose enough for Allen to take it back. He shook his head, trying to free himself, but his opponent took that moment to hook his legs around him, imprisoning his arms to his chest with incredible power for such a scrawny guy. He wriggled to get free, but Allen had more than enough time to fill his face with doodles.

"Hmm, I need more ink." The boy reached back to dip the point in the ink bottle.

Lavi immediately noticed his chance. With the balance of the boy shifted he used his legs to push off against the couch, shoving himself under Allen so the boy toppled over with a surprised yelp and landed on him, relaxing his legs in the process and thus unlocking Lavi's arms again. However, he didn't get much time to feel victorious, because then something wet splattered on his face and the sound of something hard hitting the ground distracted him from their little fight.

Allen scrambled up with a confused expression, feeling his head with one of his hands. Both were pitch black. Half of the usually so white strands was covered all over with the ink, making the boy look spotted like a cow. The rest of the liquid was dripping down, staining his pale face and making the scar almost invisible.

The sight was so ridiculous that Lavi burst out in laughter.

For a moment Allen looked even more surprised when he took a look at his now black hand, making all of it even more funny.

"Allen, you… you look ridiculous." He managed to force out, even if he could barely breath between the fits of laughter torturing his chest.

Finally the boy looked at him and started to smile. "Have you taken a look at yourself?" And as he stared at Lavi, Allen finally seemed to start to grasp the full hilariousness of their situation, because finally suppressed chuckles turned into a laughter synchronous to Lavi's.

"I can't believe we got ink all over each other in the first hour we've met." Allen chuckled.

"You were a worthy opponent though," Lavi answered with a grin when he finally was able to breathe again. "I'll take back my doubts of you being a good fighter."

"Are you taking back me being a beansprout too?"

"Oh no, you're still a beansprout. You can't run from your true nature, Allen."

It probably wasn't very smart to anger his opponent once again. He was in a disadvantage, still lying on the ground with Allen sitting on him.

As expected the boy was not going to accept it. He pushed a black finger against Lavi's nose. "Oh no, you're going to take it back."

The redhead turned away his face. "Never. Once a beansprout, always a beansprout."  
"I'm not a beansprout!" Suddenly Allen leaned forward and did the last thing Lavi had expected. He bowed his head and shook the hair, still dripping with ink, right in his opponent's face.

Lavi spluttered as the piercing taste of ink filled his mouth together with strands of hair. He could feel the skin of his face get wet of the black liquid.

Allen finally ceased his attack, leaning back with a victorious grin. "Are you admitting defeat?"

"Definitely not, my face is already dirty, there's nothing you can threaten me with anymore."

"Oh yeah?" A devilish look crossed the once so cute face as Allen snatched the forgotten feather from the ground and held it in front of his victim's face. "I can still tickle you with this."

Lavi's eye widened. "No way. You're the devil."

"Admit I'm not a beansprout."

"But I'm taught I can't lie."

"Admit it!"

The tiny ends of the feather were brushing over his nose, making him feel ready to sneeze.

"Alright, alright, I give up!" He raised his hands in a surrendering gesture. "I shouldn't have called you beansprout."

Allen smiled in satisfaction and finally stood up, putting the feather next to Lavi's bag. He brushed through his sticky hair as he sent a quick glance at his reflection in the window. "We should go clean ourselves. We look horrible."

"Doesn't mean you still aren't one though," Lavi protested softly under his breath.

He earned a sharp silver look that immediately shut him up.

However, Allen let it slide. He opened the door and stepped out. Lavi followed him, but got stuck in the doorway when his companion froze.

"Something's wrong." All jokes were gone from the boy's voice. "I smell blood."

"Are you sure?" He sniffed himself, but he couldn't smell anything strange.

"This way."

Allen crept through the hallway silently, leading them to the second class cart. He pushed himself against the wall next to the door and Lavi followed his example on the other side. Together they turned and tried to peer into the hallway sided by simple chairs.

By now Lavi could smell it too. The metallic scent of blood made the hair in his neck stand up, but it didn't prepare him for the scenery they found in front of them.

A man was standing in the middle with bloodied hands. At his feet lay a person who was probably the owner of the red liquid. Most of the other people had fled, but some red smudges on the windows told him not all of them had been as lucky. With a nauseous feeling Lavi pulled his head back and pushed himself flat against the wall.

"It's an akuma," Allen whispered softly after he'd pulled back as well.

"Akuma?" He'd heard about it before, but he couldn't believe he was finding one here.

However, Allen understood the question wrongly. "Wyverns that take the form of a human and take orders from the Millennium earl. This is what I was sent out for: to defeat as many of them as I can."

"How are you so sure it's an akuma and not just a human murderer? It doesn't look like a wyvern at all."  
Allen wrinkled his nose. "I can smell it."

"You can smell it?"

"That's why I was assigned on this mission. Because I can take them apart in contrary to other members of The Order." He detached himself from the wall. "I'll take it out now."

Lavi stared at his scrawny partner for a moment, then pictured the bloody scene in the carriage. He had to be joking. This guy could never survive something like that.

"No, I'll take him on." He pulled his hammer from the belt around his hip.

However, Allen was not going to give in so easily. "Definitely not. This is my mission."

"It's too dangerous. What can a guy without a weapon do?"

Silver eyes narrowed, but a playful spark jumped through them. "Fine, we'll make it a challenge. The first to kill the akuma wins."

Before Lavi could even respond the boy jumped around the corner and shot inside the carriage.

"Allen!" He jumped after his partner to stop him, but he wasn't nearly as quick enough.

Allen raced through the path between the chairs with such speed that he was already there when the wyvern raised his head and noticed him. Before the akuma could do anything, the boy was already on him and forced him to the ground.

When Allen stood up again the body under him didn't move anymore.

Lavi was still standing in the doorway, feeling like he was slow as a snail.

"Are you sure it's dead?"

Allen nodded, then grabbed his victim at its collar and started pulling it over the floor with him. It was quite a large man, but the boy made it seem like it weighted nothing.

"So, what do we do now?"

"I get rid of the body while you start washing your face. There's still ink all over it," Allen stated. "The Order will take care of the expenses of cleaning up."

"Are you sure you don't need help?" Only now Lavi noticed one of the pale hands was stained with more than just ink. The blood seemed to come out of the corpse's neck.

"Did you do that with your bare hands?"

"I told you I don't use human weapons. I've got more than enough with just my own." Allen passed him. "Now go the bathroom. I'll be there soon too."

Lavi stared at the boy until he got out of sight, then sighed and shook his head. Allen was right, he had to get this ridiculous black stuff off his face.

So he followed his partner's orders and looked for a bathroom. There he washed his hair and scrubbed his face until every bit of it was gone. It wasn't easy, but he was used by ink stains by now. When they got on his hands he wouldn't even bother getting them off, but this wasn't the first time he got them on his face or hair either.

As he came out he found Allen on the other side of the door waiting for him.

One question kept bothering him: "How did you get rid of it?"

Allen looked up in surprise, then smiled a little ominously. "I ate it."

"Right, it's totally credible a cute beansprout like you eats wyverns."

He got a flick on his nose for the language. "You'd better watch out before this beansprout gets hungry and decides to eat you too." The tone of his voice matched his dangerous expression earlier. Luckily, he passed Lavi instead and disappeared into the bathroom to wash himself as well.

* * *

As Lavi waited on the other side of the door, he replayed all the minutes he'd spent with Allen in his head to try to understand more of the strange boy. Slowly he was starting to get the feeling the old man might have been right, but he couldn't quite see who Allen was yet. Maybe it would be better to ask some questions later.

"Allen, are you almost ready?" It was taking ages.

Allen sounded a little stressed as he answered through the door. "I'm sorry, I'm really trying, but I just can't seem to get the stains out of my hair."

Suddenly picturing the snow white hair Lavi sighed in understanding. He opened the door and peered inside. "Do you need any help?"

The boy was standing in front of the mirror, his dripping hair soaking his coat as he looked at the grey strands he was holding between his fingers. The expression on his face was a little desperate, so Lavi tried real hard not to laugh as he stepped in.

"Here, dip your head back in. I'll try to get it off for you. I'm used to this kind of stuff."  
With a defeated sigh Allen followed the order, plunging his head back under the tap.

Slowly but efficiently Lavi set himself to work. He massaged the strands with skilled hands and rubbed the ink off of them as he would do on his own. The white hair didn't want to return to its color as quickly as his, but since he was standing over it, he could easily see where it needed a little bit more persuasion.

Allen sighed under him as he worked through the strands almost mechanically, like he was enjoying the free head massage. The thought made Lavi's fingers tingle a bit, or maybe it was just the hair rubbing his skin continuously. It was kind of satisfying to see the dark shadow disappear and the more he worked on it, the more he was starting to like the soft, though wet, strands that brushed over his hands. Unexpectedly he found himself wondering what it would feel like when it was dry and he felt a strange longing to find out.

When he really didn't seem to be able to make any progress anymore he turned off the tap, helped Allen wring most of the water out of it and then stepped back to let the boy flip it back and raise his head. His partner checked the progress in the mirror, his eyebrows knitted together a little.

"You can still see it. It's not as white as the rest."

"I'm afraid the rest will have to come off on its own. But I'm sure it won't take long. Others probably won't even see it if they don't know about it."  
Allen's frown deepened a little. "I hope so." Then he turned around and seemed to shake off his trivial worries. "We should check the rest of the train. There might be more akuma aboard. I just want to be sure there won't be more people dying when I can prevent it."

Lavi nodded. "I can't smell them, so I'll just follow you."

* * *

They patrolled from the front, where people were working hard to satisfy the locomotive with its never ending desire for coal, all the way to the back, but no other akuma were discovered. As they finally stepped through the last door, ending up outside on a little platform with a fence and staring out on the rails disappearing from under them, Lavi felt like this was the right time.

"So, Allen, who are you really?"

His partner turned away from the passing landscape in confusion. "I told you. I'm Allen walker, member of The Order and I was sent out to fight the millennium earl and his akuma."

Lavi studied the boy's face, but he really seemed honest. "But that's not all, is it? Everyone keeps saying you're very interesting, so there must be something special about you. Something you aren't telling me."

Now Allen seemed to understand it even less. "The only thing I could think of that's special about me is that I'm the last dragon, but you already know that."  
Lavi froze, staring at his partner in shock. "Say what now?"

"You mean you didn't?" Silver eyes widened in surprise. "You were assigned to me, with the statement that I'm 'interesting' but they didn't think of telling you the most important part?"

"Well, it seems so." He let his eyes travel over his partners body, but couldn't find anything that seemed to prove his statement. He seemed perfectly human to him. How could such a scrawny beansprout even be such a giant reptile? It just didn't make sense. "So, how does that work, being a dragon?"

Allen shrugged his shoulders. "I usually walk around as a human because it makes my job easier and because there are still many people who would hunt me if they'd see a dragon, but when I want to I can turn back. To fight for instance, or to fly." As he mentioned the last word he dipped his head back to stare at the blue sky longingly. "Then I can feel closest to home."

It really sounded unbelievable, but his curiosity was fueled. "Would you show me?"

Allen seemed to awaken from his daydream and smiled. "Sure! But not now. This isn't really the time for a dragon to start flying around. The people in the train are scared enough already because of the akuma. I promise to show you soon."

If there was something Lavi didn't like, it was having to wait to quell his curiosity, but he knew patience was needed for that more often than not. So he held out his hand and grinned. "Deal."

Allen's silver eyes flickered like little stars as he shook it. "Deal."

* * *

Their carriage was covered in ink, to the horror of the train personnel, so they had to move rooms. The black liquid was a hell to wash off and Lavi foresaw a very disappointed Komui when he'd hear the Order would have to pay for this.

Maybe ink-fights could better be avoided in the future. Allen seemed to share that thought, because he looked hopelessly embarrassed by the whole incident.

The train still had a long way to go, so as darkness set in, the two males made themselves comfortable on the couches the best they could and closed their eyes to catch some sleep before they would arrive at their destination.

Lavi didn't sleep very well. His mind was restless and dreams woke him up every few hours. Some time before dawn he went to use the bathroom, but when he returned he realized something was off.

The other couch was empty. The used, thin blanket lying on a messy heap in one corner.

Where was Allen?

Images of the bloodbath earlier made him feel anxious, until he decided he wouldn't be able to sleep like this anyway and stepped out into the hallway.

All the carriages were quiet and peaceful. Most people were still sleeping, making the train engine sound incredibly loud.

He searched the carts one after the other, but never did he see the familiar white mob of hair. Allen would definitely stand out if he were anywhere, so that meant he was gone.

There were just two possibilities: either he had gotten off the train, or he had gone somewhere not inside of it somehow, which left the roof. It didn't seem very likely, but with the ominous feeling building up inside of him, Lavi found himself at the back of a carriage, climbing the ladder, anyway.

It was still very cold outside. His breath left his mouth in tiny white puffs, though they seemed almost grey compared to the white hair of the one he was looking for. Without the moon he might not have been able to make out where he was putting his hands, but the giant boll was floating in the sky proudly, showering the world with light as silver as Allen's eyes. It revealed the empty landscape. Mountains at one side, a huge plain reaching out to the horizon on the other. Lavi halted at the top of the ladder to admire the beautiful scenery, then turned his head and finally found the icy white figure he'd been looking for.

Allen was sitting with his legs folded under him, his eyes staring into the distance. With his pale skin lighting up under the moonlight and his eyes glittering like stars, he seemed almost unreal. More like a ghost than a human… or a dragon.

"So this is where you were."

Allen looked up in surprise as Lavi finally stepped onto the roof and crawled over to him carefully.

"What are you even doing here? It's the middle of the night. You ought to be in bed right now."

The boy revealed two rows of perfectly white teeth is response. "I could ask you the same. Aren't you sitting on a train roof right now too?"

"Because I was looking for you!" Lavi protested as he scooted over to his partner. "I noticed you were gone and I got worried you know."

Allen's cheeks flushed a little and he looked away as he apologized: "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you worry. I just felt like getting out early."

"Early? The sun hasn't even risen yet!" As he said it he eyed the huge collection of stars scattered in the black sky.

"That's the best time." Allen put his hands behind him and tilted his head back to look at the heavenly lights as well. "I like to look at the stars. They remind me of home."

That comment raised one particular question inside Lavi. "What does the home of a dragon look like?"

Allen laughed like he hadn't ever had the question before. "Like that." He nodded upwards.

As much as he had thought this guy took things way too serious, he was starting to come back from that conclusion entirely. "I guess you have stars anywhere, but seriously, where do dragons live? Or at least used to before they almost went extinct?"

The boy tilted his head to the side, reflecting the stars directly towards Lavi with his eyes. "I don't know. I'm not like most other dragons. I wasn't born down here, but up there."

Alright then, he would play this game with him. "How do you get born in the sky?"

Allen smiled, but it wasn't an entirely happy expression. "By being a star of course."

"So why would a cute, shiny star like you be here on our puny earth?" This was almost turning into some kind of lame flirt starter now.

However, the nostalgia nestling deep into his partner's face was very real. "Because I was sent here to complete a mission. I need to find a certain man and stop him." He sighed longingly. "I miss it though. My father, Mana, is up there. I really want to see him again."

Lavi followed his gaze, but however much he stared at the stars, they just seemed like bright spots in a dark sky to him. They were just balls of fire he had read in scientific books. However, Allen seemed to really believe what he was saying. "Then why don't you go visit him for a moment?"

"Because they'll just send me back like last time." Allen pulled his knees against his chest and wrapped his arms around them like he was cold. "This mission is very important. I need to find this person before the millennium earl and his wyverns do."

So the millennium earl was looking for the same thing. "What kind of person are you looking for?"

"Someone who will take down the stars and burn the earth," was the ominous answer.

"Does someone like that really exist?"

When Allen's eyes fixed on him he could feel the full extent of the boy's believe wash over him. "Yes, Lavi, that person exists. That's why it's crucial I keep looking for him before it's too late. I'm starting to run out of time."

He nodded. He couldn't possibly argue with that.

Suddenly Allen stretched himself and yawned. "It's about time I go stretch my muscles a little."

"Didn't you just do that," Lavi teased as he looked at how his partner got on his legs.

Allen sent him an amused look. "All of my muscles. I'm going to take a little flight before the sun comes up and we get into inhabited area."

Despite his disbelief Lavi felt excitement wash over him. "So I get to see it now?"

However, his partner smiled apologetically. "Not yet, sorry. I wasn't planning on going into a full transformation. I don't want to scare any of the passengers more than needed. But I promise you it will be soon."

Lavi sunk back in disappointment. "Then how are you going to fly?"

Allen shrugged his shoulders. "By unfolding my wings, I guess."

And as he said it two white structures spread out from his back. Membranes as grey as the moonlight stretched out over bony limps, sparkling with tiny, shiny scales. Though they would seem small for a dragon, the wings looked huge on Allen's small stature. They swayed a little in the breeze of the train.

"I'll see you at dawn," Allen promised when Lavi didn't speak of surprise. Strong muscles lifted the bat-like limps, then forced them down with multiple times that force. Lavi's hair blew around his face from the pressure created. As he watched, the boy rose to the sky, turned his wings and soared away. After a few moments he disappeared out of sight behind one of the mountains.

"This is ridiculous." He was so going to yell to the old man to tell him important information like this beforehand next time.


	2. Chapter 2

Allen kept his promise. He came back inside when the sun was just starting to creep over the horizon and Lavi picked up a book to read with the light he finally got. The train ride took just about 30 more minutes until they could finally get out.

The village they had arrived in didn't look like much. Basically there was one small central square with a fountain in the middle of it and about three to a maximum of five streets in a radius away from it. Nevertheless they found an inn that was open at that early hour and would serve them breakfast.

Allen's order was endless. As he rattled down a list of meals he wanted to eat, Lavi could see sweat appear on the poor innkeepers face. The first drops had already slit down to his collar when the boy was finally ready and smiled a little bit awkwardly.

"Allen, are you meeting people here or something?" Lavi asked in a hushed voice as the stressed out man disappeared towards the kitchen to fulfill his huge order.

However his partner's eyes widened with surprise. "No, why?"

"You'll never be able to eat that much!"

"Oh, that," Allen laughed lightly in embarrassment, "I'll be fine. I tend to eat much because I need to actually fuel a dragon's body."

That sounded quite logical but still. He couldn't believe it would be _that_ big. After all, he was still a beansprout and the wings hadn't looked like all that much either. If those had to lift an entire dragon in the air, there couldn't be much reptile to take off the ground. "You didn't eat that much for dinner yesterday."

This time Allen laughed in actual amusement. "That's because I got an entire wyvern for lunch. I'm not bottomless, you know."

He just had to be joking.

Their first meal was served. The innkeeper promised Allen there would be more, but he needed more time. The boy didn't seem to mind and attacked his available food with glee instead.

However, seeing the excitement with which his partner seemed to swallow down his food without even chewing properly, Lavi suddenly didn't think the idea of the wyvern disappearing that way entirely impossible anymore either.

* * *

They separated when village life was starting to revive after the night. As Allen would go around to search for akuma and signs for his own mission, Lavi sought out the local bookstore. The little shop wasn't much, but just as his sources had told him, he did find what he needed. He pushed the book against his chest as he opened the door and stepped out of the store. One found, eight left. It wasn't bad to get one in the first place they visited. If he would go on like this he'd be back at The Order in two weeks.

It wasn't unusual for him to get blinded the moment he would step outside after spending a long time between bookshelves. However, what was, was to step onto a square dominated by chaos of running and screaming people. He stopped in his tracks and looked around, trying to find the source of the sudden panic.

As if the universe had decided to help him, it fell down right in front of his nose, impossible to miss. Two monsters almost crushed him as they crashed into the pavement, barely missing the fountain.

A giant white dragon pinned an opponent to the ground, baring its fangs aggressively. The wyvern under it looked almost small against the grotesque white body that covered it. It struggled to get free, or at least take a bite out of its attacker, by wriggling its slippery serpent body, but the dragon's grip was merciless. The white beast moved quicker than seemed possible for its size. Its jaws closed around its victim's neck and crushed all necessary structures inside of it.

With a last desperate scream turning into a gurgle, the wyvern went limp. Its head dropped on the ground with a loud thud.

The dragon eyed its opponent one more time, then shook itself, sending droplets of blood all over the square.

That thing was Allen, right? Lavi stared at the colossal beast in front of him. But it couldn't be. This creature was huge, much larger than the short stature of his partner could ever have made him expect. The elegant Asian dragon was as beautiful as it was dangerous. Its scales glittered like the stars they came from. The long and slim horns followed the horizontal line of the body, making one elegant, horizontal curl in the middle. Two whiskers sprouted from the reptile's face, ignoring all laws of gravity by dancing through the air freely.

But despite the majestic appearance, Lavi couldn't help but swallow as he eyed the blood stains on the long reptile claws and sharp fangs.

He resisted the urge to step back when silver, predator eyes found him at the edge of the square.

"Beansprout, is that you?" He reached for his hammer as he said it, realizing desperately that it was just a puny useless weapon in front of a dragon. And here he'd been the one making fun of Allen for fighting bare handed.

The beast raised its lip in a dangerous snarl, but it was Allen's voice he heard. "Who are you calling beansprout, little ant?"

Lavi relaxed. The dragon hadn't actually spoken, but he'd heard it clearly in his head, sent over telepathically.

As he took a moment to try to see the reptile with different eyes, the body started to shrink. Wings folded in on themselves, claws dulled, scales vanished and finally a familiar pale boy remained standing on the square, next to a dead wyvern that seemed to double in size now that its opponent was just a small human.

"The name's Allen," the boy insisted sternly as he stepped over a splatter of reptile blood like it was nothing. "Remember it next time."

* * *

Finding a phone to call Komui was just as hard as finding someone who would talk to them after what happened on the square. It probably didn't help much that Allen was still splattered with blood, because they hadn't been able to find a place to bathe yet either.

Usually a phone call to The Order wouldn't really be needed, because Allen would eat the wyvern and clean up that way, or so Allen claimed himself. But apparently this one wasn't any good. When he asked his partner why, the boy claimed it tasted too poisonous. Lavi couldn't possibly argue with that.

However, because of their need to call their chief and get Allen cleaned up, they happened to have an extra inconvenience: the train they had planned to take to the next city was already gone when they finally got there. And the next one wouldn't come for another two days.

Lavi sighed in defeat and sunk down on a bench at the tiny station. "I can't believe we missed it."

Allen seemed a lot less disappointed and stared upwards with a thoughtful expression instead. "Yeah, it is kind of inconvenient. But the train isn't the only way to reach our destination. So it doesn't mean we're stuck."

"I hope you don't expect me to walk all that way. We'd take even longer than if we wait those extra few days here."

"I wasn't really thinking of that." Allen stepped in front of his partner and met his gaze with shining silver eyes. "We could also fly, you know."

Now he had caught Lavi's interest. "Can you carry someone else then?"

Allen laughed. "Easily. A little guy like you weights nothing to a dragon."

That had to be payback for calling him a bean sprout.

"Alright, so where do we take off?" He wasn't exactly excited though. As much as the dragon intrigued him, he hadn't forgotten the scene a few hours earlier yet. The image of the dying wyvern fighting for its life was still fresh in his mind. He wasn't sure he really wanted to get close to that beast again.

However, Allen didn't seem to be aware of any of it. "If we cross the train tracks, we can move into that grassland. I should have more than enough space there."

With a tired sigh Lavi heaved himself back up on his legs and followed his companion. There went his hope of catching a little extra sleep in a train carriage.

It wasn't much of a walk. With how small the village was, the station already was on its outskirts, so they didn't need to go very far from it to not scare any innocent inhabitants.

In the middle of the grassland Allen told Lavi to wait, took a fair amount of distance and then transformed back into the giant reptile from before. The huge, white dragon wasn't much less intimidating this time.

Allen stretched his long and slender body under the sun, splaying all his toes in the green strands under them and flapping his wings lazily. It was almost like he was relieved to finally shed off his human form.

"So, are you ready to get on?"

Two silver, predator eyes locked on him, burying all of Lavi's courage in the ground.

"Are you sure we can't just wait for the next train to arrive?" He made sure it sounded like he was teasing, but he was certain Allen saw straight through him.

The dragon growled softly, a deep rumbling sound that vibrated through the earth under Lavi's feet. "Just climb onto my neck. You can use my horns to hold on."

Sighing in defeat, the redhead finally made his way over to the reptile, carefully dodging the long whiskers that danced through the air. As the dragon put its head down, Lavi climbed up hesitantly, taking place between the long, horizontal horns flanking him. They were even longer than they had seemed from a distance. The curves they made halfway were still far behind him. He hoped Allen would keep into account he was holding on to them, because now he could send his passenger flying with a simple turn of his giant head.

"Here we go," Allen warned before colossal white wings unfolded themselves next to them. "Hold on tight."

The two limps were forced down so viciously that a tiny hurricane ravaged through the grass. With a jolt Lavi almost smacked on Allen's head as his body rose. Though seemingly impossible, the entire dragon managed to lift itself off the ground and took to the sky together with its passenger.

Lavi stared at the ground disappearing from under them at much higher speed than he could have imagined. He clenched his hands around the horns unwillingly. He liked learning and experiencing new things, but flying so high all of a sudden might be a little too much.

"How do you like the view?" Allen leveled himself and then turned until the sun was shining on their backs so they would go in the right direction.

"Amazing." It wasn't too hard to hide his slight fears behind that statement. "I don't think I've ever been able to see so far." He craned his neck, but the town they were going to wasn't visible just yet. "The trees are so small they seem to fit in my hand."

The dragon hummed under him, sending deep vibrations through Lavi's legs. "I figured you'd like it."

With their speed now constant, holding on was a lot less hard. He felt himself relax and take in the view. His eye wandered over the landscape, then over the white body, glistering in the sun. The wings were spread out most of the time, sailing on the wind. They were much larger than the time Allen had taken flight from the train roof. Their membranes bulged up from the air under them, but as thin and fragile they looked, their hard work showed their true power.

"I know your wings are really strong, but it's still amazing they get such a heavy creature into the air."

As to underline the compliment Allen flapped them one more time, raising himself higher into the sky. "I don't even need them to fly though. They just help me to go faster and more elegantly."

"You're kidding right?"

Allen turned his head a slight bit, forcing Lavi into adapting his balance as his supporting points moved. However, the dragon seemed to realize his mistake and turned it back before his companion would fall off. Looking each other in the eye would just be impossible right now. "Do you want to see it? I can just fold them in right now."

"Please don't!" He couldn't help but tighten his grip on the hard structures next to him.

The dragon rumbled in irregular bursts, until Lavi realized Allen was laughing.

"Gravity is for puny moral like you," the dragon mused with a teasing tone. "Stars like me have nothing to do with it. That's how I'll return home when I've finally accomplished my mission."

The reptile made a light swirl in the air to underline his statement, taking away the last of Lavi's relaxation.

"Oh, come one, Al. Everyone knows gravity is something you can't just turn off." He didn't know why he was still saying this after the warning he had gotten earlier. And he really shouldn't have.

Because at that moment his companion decided to do just as he'd said and folded in his wings.

As he felt the muscles under him shift and their speed fall back, Lavi pushed himself closer to the white scales in fear. This was the moment they would go into a free fall.

He'd felt it before, but never from this height. Suddenly he wondered if he'd ever even be able to tell the old man about it, or if Allen might forget his passenger might not be able to hold on during such forces.

However, it didn't happen. Though they were definitely moving more than before, the familiar feeling of a floating stomach stayed away. He opened his eyes and realized they were still on the same height. Allen's wings were still folded in tightly, but his long serpent body was curling gently through the air. Almost like he was swimming downstream.

"You've got to be kidding me." He stared at the strange phenomenon a little longer, then shook his head. "Seems like Komui and the old man were right. You _are_ very interesting."

Allen chuckled in soft, rumbling breaths. "Maybe you should start believing people when they tell you something."

Lavi grinned, even though he knew the dragon wouldn't be able to see it. "Yeah, maybe I should, huh?"

There wasn't an answer. Suddenly all muscles under the white scales cramped. Allen let out a soft groan as his wings unfolded and started flapping uncontrollably. Despite it, they started losing altitude.

"Allen, is something wrong?"

The dragon didn't respond. Instead it wriggled its long body, almost sending its passenger flying. Then suddenly they did go into a free fall.

Lavi didn't even get the time to scream, because a moment later he hit the hard white scales again as their fall was broken. Yet, Allen didn't seem more coordinated at all.

Instead he flapped his wings even harder, then shook his head.

Lavi screamed in terror as the horns slipped out of his hands and he pressed himself flat against the giant reptile's neck. "Allen, get yourself back together!"

The only response was another short free fall. This time it ended with Lavi groaning too as his chin hit the body under him.

"Allen, I'm seriously going to fall off!"

Trees were coming awfully close now. He could hear the branches snap as clawed paws hit their tops.

"Stop it! We're going to crash!"

And they were. As soon as a clearing appeared under them the dragon swooped down and collided with the ground. Lavi's scream was cut off when the force of their landing slapped his molars together, sending rough stings of pain through them. With a sharp grinding sound the heavy serpent body slit over the ground, then started to roll over.

Just as Lavi saw his life flash before his eyes, knowing he would never survive getting crushed by a dragon, the body under him suddenly shifted and started to shrink.

His second crash with the ground forced the air out of his lungs, but luckily falling on him was just a human boy.

Allen groaned as he rolled to a stop and reached to his head with his hands. He curled up to a ball and didn't move.

Panting and feeling paralyzed for the moment, Lavi stayed where he was, waiting until the worst pain subsided. When he finally felt ready to move, despite adrenaline still raging through his body, he got up slowly and scooted to his companion.

"Allen, are you alright?"

The boy was panting too. He finally lifted his head from his hands and looked at Lavi with unfocussed eyes. At least he was getting a reaction this time. "Y… Yeah, I'm fine." The boy pushed himself up, but as soon as he got on his knees he was swaying dangerously.

"You should probably lie back down."

Allen shook his head, which almost caused him to collapse to the ground entirely. "A compass. I… I need a compass." He looked around wildly as if he thought he would find one on the forest floor.

"Al, it can wait. You just crash landed from hundreds of feet in the air. You should really lie down."

"No!" Suddenly desperation shifted over the pale face. "He called me. I need to know which direction it came from, before I forget what it felt like!"

"Alright, alright! I'll get you a compass. Just take it easy okay?"

Lavi took off his backpack and started rummaging through it. His whole body ached from their crash, but at least nothing seemed broken.

Soon enough he found the little instrument and handed it over to Allen. The boy hastened himself to direct it correctly, but in his rush and with his trembling fingers the object hit the ground instead. Before the quick pale hands could scoop it up again, Lavi snatched it away.

"Just let me handle it. You focus on the direction that feeling came from." Whatever that was supposed to mean.

Allen sighed and closed his eyes. "I'm pretty sure it came from that direction." A moment later he pointed almost in front of them.

"Alright, so if we follow the compass we should get to know the location of whoever called you?" Before he got an answer he was back to looking through his bag and pulled out a map. He unrolled it and put the compass on it.

"Yes, that's right. That's what I need it for. My sense of direction is horrible. I need to make sure I don't go the wrong way." Allen scooted a little closer, staring at the map too. "So, which direction is it exactly?"

Lavi eyed his companion critically, but the boy seemed to be recovering a little. "Well, I can't say for sure since I've never flown before. But I think we should be around here by now." He marked a spot on the map with his finger, then traced a line with his other hand. "And the direction you pointed at would be along this way."

The silver eyes still looked a little clueless. "So, then that's the direction we should go in."  
"Ho ho," Lavi turned his head, meeting the boy's eyes with his own. "Where is this sudden change of plans coming from? This isn't the way we should go for our mission."

"It is for mine." Determination was so apparent on Allen's face that Lavi was slightly taken aback. "That call that I felt, that's the person I've been looking for all this time since I descended from the stars. I have to go there, Lavi!"

"What do you mean? You can't possibly be saying the man you're going to defeat is calling you towards him free-willingly."

Suddenly the boy bowed his head, hiding his eyes behind his hair. "He is looking for me too. It's a race. The one finding him first will decide if I'll stop him or he me. He's sealed right now. When I'm a dragon he tries to reach out to me sometimes, but as long as the millennium earl doesn't break the seal he won't be able to take full control of me. But just to be safe, I'd better not try flying again today. I don't want to risk your life in another crash."

The story got a whole lot more interesting all of a sudden. The old man probably knew about this already. He had a feeling he might have been sent with Allen to observe what would happen instead. If that were so…

"Alright, Al, we'll follow your feeling, but we will need to make a short detour to that town we were originally heading to. I have to look for a book there and want to get some food and water before we head out into the middle of nowhere." Though he doubted their food would last longer than a day if the dragon decided to have a full meal.

Allen looked at the map and nodded. "Alright, but we'll have to make it quick. I have a feeling that I'm not the only one who got information on his location."

* * *

After a short rest Allen appeared strong enough to get on his feet again and they continued their journey walking. They had passed a good distance with their flight, but Lavi still predicted they needed at least one and a half day to get to their destination.

That night they camped in a little clearing between the trees. Lavi had gathered enough firewood by the time Allen returned with a deer over his shoulders that he'd caught with the predator skills that seemed untouched by the fact that he was in human form. As the redhead struggled hard to generate enough warmth for a spark by wringing a stick between his hands, Allen pulled up a brow, leaned over and blew out shortly. Immediately a little fire jumped over the wood, making happy crackling sounds.

Lavi sighed for his own stupidity as he dropped his job. Right, you didn't have any shortage of fire when your companion was a dragon.

They roasted one of the prey's legs. The rest was eaten raw by Allen, as befitting a large carnivorous reptile. As Lavi threw the remaining bone of his meal into the bushes he turned to his partner.

"So, how did a dragon like you end up at The Order?"

Allen looked up from his own bone. He was basically crunching it between his teeth and Lavi wondered a little worryingly if it was really okay that the boy was swallowing chunks of it too.

"Well, basically they sought me out. As most other dragons got hunted and killed, I got one choice. I could either turn into their enemy and fight or live as fugitive forever, or I could join them where they could keep an eye on me. Since they were the only humans who considered giving a beast like me a chance I decided to take it. With their protection it would be easier to complete my mission too, so I could just return to the stars as quickly as possible."

Lavi put his elbow on his knee and leaned with his chin on his hand. "I didn't think they would be that scared of a dragon like you. You don't seem like the violent type to me."

The reflection of flames danced in Allen's silver eyes as he stared straight into them. "They aren't usually. They know I'm not out for trouble. Most dragons weren't. Don't understand me wrongly: most dragons were killed because their body parts are very valuable in the human world, but there were some that were taken down by The Order."

He sighed. "Some dragons have the tendency to get overwhelmed by really strong negative emotions. When that happens they might lose sense of themselves and they go out of control and if something takes many human lives, it's a dragon in full aggression."

Lavi dropped his hand in his lap. "Wow, I didn't know that."

Allen smiled a little sadly. "The Order tries to keep it a secret. Some members aren't too happy with the idea of a colleague that could go into a murder spree all of a sudden. But it's basically the biggest reason I am one of their members. They think that if they know where I am at all times, it would be easier to react if anything were to happen. Komui doesn't want to kill me without reason after all. He's a good person." Suddenly the boy seemed to remember his bone and started chewing on it again frantically.

"He is indeed," Lavi agreed. He studied the boy in front of him, but however much he looked, he couldn't see a murderous beast in him. Though he probably would have thought differently if he'd sat there in dragon form.

"You know, you could ask Komui for a different partner if you'd want to after this." Allen wouldn't meet his eye as he said it.

"What?" Lavi grinned. "And miss my cute little beansprout as a companion? Never."

A chunk of bone snapped between white teeth. "It's Allen."

"Alright, alright, sorry, Al." Lavi waved his hands as he laughed uneasily.

The boy didn't seem to believe him as he shot him an annoyed look from over the campfire. He put the little piece of bone he had left in his mouth and swallowed it as if trying to deliver a message.

Maybe it really wasn't very smart to anger the dragon who had just told him he could go out of control any time.

"I just can't believe you would do something like that without a good reason," he tried to explain. "So I'm not scared of you. Also I like traveling with you. Though you really should stop freaking me out all the time."

"Freaking you out?" The naïve confusion on the boy's face was almost cute. "Like how?"

"Like when you crunch and swallow bones like it's perfectly normal."

White brows shut up. "But I'm a dragon. I'm not going to waste half of my prey like you. I eat every tiny bit of it. I can't help that I had to bite it all down in human form. Though if you really want me to, we can also not eat our meal together and I can just swallow it whole in my dragon form next time."

"You swallow it whole?"

Allen shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, usually. Sometimes we chew just because it feels nice. But we're not too different from snakes when it comes to eating."

"So you can digest everything?" Dragons really were interesting. He should look for books on them when he got the chance.

Allen stared in the flames thoughtfully. "Not everything. But we don't really care about it. Our body is much better in deciding what is useful and what not."

"That's also a way to look at it."

Their conversation died there. Lavi yawned and let his eye fall shut. Allen didn't seem much more awake.

The crackling of the fire quieted down as time passed. A slight breeze rustled through the leaves. Lavi laid himself down on the forest floor, letting his mind fade into sleep.

The sudden sound of a howling wolf tore through the silence of the night. Immediately he jolted up, adrenaline pumping through his veins. The flames had died into a red glowing light. Quickly Lavi fed it some twigs and blew to light it up again.

Allen opened his eyes too. Clouded with sleep they looked more dark grey than silver. "What's wrong, Lavi?"

"Nothing, you can just go back to sleep."

As the wood was accepted by the flames he started throwing in more to get it back to full strength. Another howl, this time closer, made a shiver run over his spine. He'd better get this fire going if he didn't want the full pack attacking them soon.

Allen eyed his hurried activities sleepily. "Are you scared of wolfs?"

"Well, they do eat people, you know."

Finally satisfied with the strength of his fire, he put a long and thick branch next to him. If the animals would come too close, he could light it and ward them off.

"Well, dragons eat wolfs." Allen stated softly before yawning. "So you should just go back to sleep already."

Lavi froze. For a moment he had forgotten his partner wasn't human. However, that meant he might not be the only one. "How do the wolfs know you're a dragon? They might attack us in our sleep and you might be too late to react."

Allen sighed, then pushed himself off the ground. "I don't see what you're so worried about."

Yeah, maybe because he was a vicious, giant reptile.

"But if it makes you feel better." Suddenly the boy's body contorted. The play of shadows and the light of flames gave a darker, creepier dimension to the way all of his proportions changed. Allen's torso kept growing in length, curling around their camp like scaly walls closing it in.

Then it finally stopped. A large head loomed over the rolled up serpent body. "We can sleep like this too. No wolf would be stupid enough to take me on."

To be honest, the whole transformation had freaked him out way more than any wolf ever could, but he wasn't going to say that.

"Are you sure you don't mind?"

A white snout leaned in, blowing a little breeze of wind through Lavi's hair. "It doesn't make any difference to me either way. So just go to sleep, alright? I'll keep an eye out for any dangerous forest creatures that try to eat my little human partner."

As he looked into the silver eyes he knew Allen meant it, even if he had used such a teasing tone. He was really going to be safe here.

"Alright then, just make sure to get some sleep too, though."

"No worries."

Allen pulled his head back. A soft rustle indicated he'd laid it down at the other side of his body.

Lavi sighed and tried to release the tension that had built up inside of him. He had to admit it really did feel safe. The giant body curled around him felt like a barricade for the outside world. One big claw was resting a few feet away from him, but as sharp as it looked he knew it was there to protect him, not hurt him.

He scooted back, until he was leaning against the hard scales. They felt warm against his skin. In response to the touch Allen shifted lightly, making Lavi pull back quickly.

However, the white body constricted a little further until they were in contact again, then relaxed. Apparently Allen didn't mind after all.

He laid down, his back against the warm creature. A heavy, slow, but rhythmic drum traveled towards his ear through the ground. Fastening slightly as the dragon breathed in and slowing down as air gushed out of the giant lungs again. Everything in this gigantic body went slower, but it was all still there. Even if Allen claimed to be a star, he was just as much alive as any other.

Lavi let his eye slide shut to the assuring presence of his companion. For the first time he didn't feel any doubt about being so close to a dangerous dragon. Instead he felt safe and satisfied at the thought that Allen was next to him as he fell asleep.

* * *

They reached their destination the next afternoon. Allen was obviously getting nervous the longer they were deviating from the indicated direction, so Lavi hurried to gather all the supplies he needed. He didn't manage to find one of the books he was looking for, but all of a sudden that didn't seem really important anymore, anyway.

As he stepped outside he noticed a little girl with spiky hair was staring up at Allen. The lollypop in her hand seemed to have gotten unimportant as her face split into a smile.

"I can't believe it, an actual dragon!"

Lavi froze as his partner turned around in surprise and only seemed to notice the child now.

"and he's a star too! Don't tell me you happen to be Allen Walker?"

Allen took a step back, suspicion invading his eyes. "Yes, I am. How do you know?"

"No way! I never expected to meet you here." Her candy got tossed away now. "I bet Millennie won't mind if I play with you a little."

 _"Millennie"_ , that couldn't stand for millennium earl, could it?

Her skin changed shade. As it grew ash grey, seven star shaped scars appeared on her forehead.

Allen started growling deep in his throat, shocking Lavi in taking a step behind his partner instinctively.

"You're a fallen star."

The girl smiled at Allen. "That's right. I'm Road Kamelot, a member of the clan of Noah, banished from the night sky so heavily that we had to give up our dragon body. But don't underestimate us. They couldn't take away all of our powers. They simply manifest differently now."

As she turned her hand Lavi felt something pull at his body harshly, sending him flying through the air until a brick wall absorbed his speed. The sudden halt made him crash on the ground with nauseating force.

"Lavi!"

Allen's outcry sounded muffled through the piercing pain that tortured his head. He cracked an eye open, but the rest of his body wouldn't listen. He fearfully wondered how many of his bones would have broken.

The girl cackled loudly. "Now that the boring human is gone, we can finally play."  
Allen clenched his jaws. As his lips parted fangs got visible behind them. "How could you. He has nothing to do with this. I thought you wanted to have me!"

Road put a finger under her chin, tilting her head. "But isn't he important to you? That makes it all the more fun."  
A growl rumbled dangerously in the boy's throat. "I can see why the stars banished you."

The comment seemed to greatly entertain the girl. "Well, what about you. Aren't you cursed too?"

The growl was cut off with a surprised sound as Allen stared at her with wide open eyes.

"Didn't the stars technically banish you here too? They won't let you go back either, will they?"

"That's different." Allen seemed to have trouble pushing out his words.

"Is it?" Road narrowed her eyes in amusement. "If you ask me they were just scared of you. It's just a matter of time until you get banished for real too. But you know that, don't you?"

Pain flashed over the silver eyes as their pupils lengthened, but Road wasn't done yet.

"They just needed an excuse to get you here. They gave you just this little hope of fighting against your fate, but basically they knew you wouldn't succeed all along. That's why they gave you that curse. The moment Neah takes control of you, you won't be able to return anymore, you know. Gravity will start pulling at you too and the stars will be forever out of reach."

"They just did that for safety!" But the cry sounded weak. It was obvious Allen didn't believe in it himself. And with that, his limit seemed to have been reached, because then an aggressive snarl left the boy's lips as he dashed forward, slashing at the girl with grown out claws.

Road dodged the attack with ease. She danced around playfully as her opponent kept coming at her.

Lavi groaned as he pushed himself up on his arms. His body was bruised all over, but the worst of the pain was disappearing. He had to help Allen somehow. If he could get behind Road while Allen kept her occupied he might be able to end it with a fling of his hammer.

However, the opposite happened. Suddenly an icy voice spoke from behind him: "Who said you could get up?"

A foot connected with the back of his head and planted his face in the hard street tiles.

"Leave him alone!"

The weight disappeared as a gush of wind blew through his hair. When Lavi managed to lift his face, warm liquid now seeping over his lips, he saw Allen was chasing her even more furiously than before. A set of horns had started sprouting from his head and scales were covering parts of his skin. He wasn't too far away from a transformation.

However, something seemed wrong with it this time. It was like the boy wasn't even aware himself in what state his body was.

Road cackled, still too fast every time. "The fact that you're getting so worked up proves how many doubts you have about this yourself."

"Shut up!"

Wings unfolded to give Allen just that extra push of speed, but Road darted away just a millisecond too fast.

"I'm very sorry for you, Allen. Why don't you join us? In contrary to that Mana we really care for you. We will finally answer the love you have been giving him for so long."

Allen came to a standstill, panting heavily. Nothing about him seemed human anymore as he bared his carnivorous teeth. "I don't need any of you. Mana is more than enough. He will be waiting for me when I return."

Road's golden eyes flickered as pity crossed her face. "Oh my, you can't really still be believing that. Allen, if Mana cared for you, wouldn't he have told you Neah is his brother?"

The boy froze. His trembling muscles the only movement as he stared at Road in horror while she unfolded the awful truth.

"As I thought, he didn't. I'm very sorry, Allen, but it's true. Neah, the one who will take down the stars by controlling you, is Mana's brother. That's probably why he has been raising you. He must have loved his twinbrother after all and raised you for him. Haven't you ever wondered why he was the only star against killing you?"

The terror inside Allen was so tangible that Lavi could feel it claw at his own heart. He wanted to say something, but the moment he tried, Road twisted a hand, pushing his face back against the ground with her powers.

"Mana wouldn't…" Allen's voice was trembling as much as his hands. "Mana didn't… No, it can't be." For a moment pale hands rose to cover the faltering face. Then, suddenly, wings and feet pushed off for another launch at their opponent.

A simple step aside was ample to avoid it.

Allen screamed in frustration as he realized he had missed his tormentor again. Another fit of blind rage followed, in which the two chased each other all over the street. This time flames danced with them, barely missing the girl with every outburst.

"There is something else the stars probably didn't tell you either." Road cheered as she dodged a column of fire.

Allen didn't even seem able to answer anymore. His voice seemed to have gotten lost under the growling and snarling of a furious predator, trying to kill its prey.

"Really, Allen, if they had cared about you they would at least have told you instead of letting you stare upwards with false hope all the time. Because you know what? Mana won't be waiting there anymore. He long died while you were still down here."

That was enough to stop the fury of attacks. Allen shook his head, incredibility written on his face.

"And do you know why they didn't tell you? Because they did it. The stars found out about his betrayal. They found out he didn't raise you because he loved you, but for his brother. So they killed him."

Allen shook his head again.

"You can ask them if you don't believe me. But it would be useless for me to lie, wouldn't it? Especially when the stars can hear me from up there and tell you differently all the time." And then Road delivered the final blow. "But they aren't doing that, are they?"

Tears shot into the silver eyes. Allen screamed as he lifted his hands to his head and sunk through his knees. For a moment he stayed on the ground, panting heavily. Then, as fast as he had collapsed he rose up, his face contorted in murderous rage. The proportions of his body contorted. He was changing back.

Their conversation of the night before popped back up in his head and Lavi felt fear fill his body. "Wait, Al, don't listen to her. She's trying to set you up!"

The dragon didn't listen. It raised its head, roaring aggressively before pouncing on the girl.

"That was easier than I expected. But I had a lot of fun playing with you two."

Lavi jolted around to find Road there, smiling at him.

"Good luck with him." Her golden eyes darted to the raging dragon that had seemed to have realized its opponent had escaped again and was now crushing a building under one of its claws in frustration. "It won't be easy to stay alive until The Order comes to kill him."

Then she was gone.

Lavi stared at the place she had stood just now with shock, then got distracted when an enormous crash created a little earthquake. The dragon howled in outrage.

 _'….until The Order comes to kill him.'_

No way. This couldn't be what Allen had told him about. They had discussed this just yesterday!

Allen curled around in the air and smashed his tail in one of the houses, making bricks rain down as screams sounded up from inside. Instead of stopping when he heard them, the dragon opened its maw and buried its direct surroundings in a roaring sea of flames.

"Allen, stop it, you're hurting people!" With enormous effort Lavi managed to lift himself off the ground, back on his feet. "Get yourself back together!"

It didn't have the desired effect. Instead the giant reptile jolted its head, piercing furious eyes at him. There didn't seem to be any recognition inside of them.

"Al, you can't do this to me." Knowing he didn't have any chance of survival if the beast decided to attack, anyway, he walked forward in the hope his words would reach his partner better up close. He had to try anything to stop this before The Order would kill Allen. "I know I didn't believe you when you told me about how dragons can suddenly get aggressive yesterday, but that doesn't mean you have to prove me wrong now. Come on, I believe you now, let's just go on with our journey, okay?"

The reptile snarled. Its head lowered dangerously close to Lavi's face. He could be gone with just one bite now. Lavi felt his breath stock as his heart moved up towards his throat. Though his hand trembled uncontrollably he lifted it and put it on the scaly snout in front of him.

"Come on, Al. We still have a long way to go for your mission. You don't want to do it all on your own do you?"

Silver eyes glittered strangely.

"Let's finish this together. I still want to make another flight with you. You know, one that doesn't end with a crash-landing." He cracked a smile, thought he wasn't sure how it looked with how terrified he felt.

A soft moan escaped the beast's mouth, much less threatening than the growling from before.

"It doesn't matter what she said, does it? You can still return home when you've finished this mission. But even until then, you aren't alone, Al. The Order is there, Komui cares about you and I'm here too."

The muscles in the dragon's face finally relaxed, then everything started to shrink until just a small boy sunk down on the street in front of Lavi. Tears streamed over his face as sobs tortured his fragile chest.

Relief washed over Lavi like the first drops of water quenching a giant sense of thirst. He dropped himself to the ground too, then pulled the boy to his chest. "It's okay, it's okay. I'm here."

Allen grabbed his shirt and pulled himself closer. Warm tears soaked the fabric. Lavi let one of his hands brush through the white hair, petting the boy's head softly. It really was as soft as he'd thought that moment he'd washed it.

He sat there with Allen as the buildings around them crackled with flames. But even when a wall collapsed by the forces of destruction, Lavi didn't flinch. He just held on to his partner, waiting patiently until the boy would finally feel ready to go on again.

* * *

They left the city as fast as they could. Allen seemed pained at the sight of the destruction he had caused, but when they called Komui, the chief simply acknowledged the damage and promised he would fix it. There was no sign of blame anywhere in his voice. He probably must have known how much the boy would beat himself up for it.

However, as soon as they were out in the forest again, trying to get back on the line he had traced on the map, Lavi was starting to realize they were being followed. Allen's suspicious expression showed he had realized it too, but he wasn't making any preparation to react to it.

Lavi closed in, then leaned towards his partner to whisper softly enough that nobody else could hear it. "So, what are we going to do about our shadows?"

Silver eyes flickered to him shortly. "Nothing. I'll just change into a dragon tonight and see if they still got the guts to challenge us."

That plan seemed so simple that Lavi felt his brows rise. "Wouldn't that be a little bit too obvious?"

"It has worked before." Allen stretched his arms and yawned. "These guys are here for me, but I bet they have never actually seen a live dragon before."

"So they aren't wyverns?"

"Nope, just normal humans out for money."

Lavi let a little distance grow between them again to avoid too much suspicion in their followers.

"So, Lavi, what do you think about telling an interesting story yourself this time? I've been telling you about the stars and my mission and all, but you almost never talk about yourself."

The question came a little unexpected. Lavi laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head, trying to think of anything to tell. He was usually the one fishing for stories. He didn't tell them himself very often.

"But, Al, your life is so much more interesting. I'm just a boring librarian. I spend my entire life with my nose buried in dusty old books."

Allen raised his brows in amusement. "I wouldn't call these past few days boring."

"That's an exception though."

"Then tell me about the exceptions." There was real interest in de boy's eyes. "Didn't you go traveling like this before too?"

"Hmmm," Lavi put a finger on his chin, "I did a few times, but I bet you've seen a lot of the world yourself as well. Oh!" Instinctively his finger followed his thoughts and rose in the air. "I can tell you about the time I lost my eye. It's a really exciting story with pirates and all."

Allen laughed. "How does a boring librarian meet pirates?"

Lavi fixed his eye on the boy with a serious expression. "Pirates are our worst enemies, Al. They steal all kinds of really valuable literature because it brings up money. So this time, I was ordered to steal it back for The Order."

The corners of Allen's mouth curled up. "Alright, that sounds like a really exciting story indeed. Please go on."

* * *

Lavi was a funny guy, Allen concluded as he thought back to their earlier conversations while he made his way back with their dinner slung over his shoulders. He hadn't been sure he was happy with his new partner at first, but as soon as he had found out how lighthearted Lavi could be it had somehow rubbed off on him. Not to mention he had been there in the city too. Every other member of The Order would have tried to kill him, but not Lavi. If his companion hadn't tried so hard to reach him, he didn't think he would have stopped there.

One of the leg bones under his fingers snapped, reminding him he was clenching it too tightly. For a moment Allen stopped and took a moment to breathe, trying to release the tension from his muscles and lock away the chaos of emotions that rose up every time he thought back to his meeting with Road. He couldn't help but wonder if she had been right. After all, the stars did stay silent all that time.

He ordered his legs to continue walking again. The crunching of leaves and twigs under his feet was the only sound in the forest. It was quiet… too quiet. Their pursuers had pulled back, but he knew they were still there. Their scent lingered in his nose as a silent warning. Only humans could think they could stay unnoticed like that.

The sun had set as soon as he entered the clearing Lavi was setting up their camp in. Shades slid over the trees, turning from light grey to deep black in a slightly higher pace than the sky above them. The first stars were becoming visible, looking down on the earth from their peaceful little place in heaven.

"Is that a boar?!" Lavi's eye lit up when he noticed the prey his partner was bringing in. He whistled appreciatively. "Nice, that will taste good!"

Allen smiled as he dropped his load. "I was lucky. It was so occupied with the scent of those truffles that he didn't notice me creeping up on him at all."

He let Lavi take over to skin and clean the meat before cooking it. That was a human specialty. Allen loved meals they made, but he didn't usually have the patience to actually do it himself.

"Well, you're not the only lucky one."

They ate calmly at the fire, speaking in hushed voices and keeping an extra eye out for their followers. However, the night stayed calm as it grew darker and darker and the sounds of birds fell quiet and got replaced by cricket calls and bat squeaks.

"Aaahhaaa~," Allen stretched himself and yawned, "I guess it's about time I fix our little problem so we can go to sleep."

He got up, winking at Lavi who frowned worriedly. With a deep breath he concentrated on the feeling of brightness inside of himself. The fire in his chest, the starlight in his hart. He pulled the essence of his very being out of the little corner he had pushed it away in and let it unfold and grow. Immediately he could feel his body react. A familiar sensation of unbalance overwhelmed him when everything inside him started to shift. His body lengthened, his limps falling behind in comparison. His cheeks stretched out, giving birth to his long whiskers as fangs surpassed his lips. A new set of limps unfolded on his back, suddenly reminding him of his eagerness to use them again.

As soon as his body finally settled and the energy inside him stabilized, Allen shook himself to loosen his muscles.

"Al, are you really sure this is a good idea?"

Before he could answer to Lavi's question a movement in the bushes distracted him. He pulled up his lip, growling softly. He really didn't want to hurt any humans if he could. He'd rather scare them off without a fight. However, he was starting to get the feeling it might not be that easy this time. Transforming could scare off people, but it could also trigger them to come out and fight. They were after his dragon body after all. He just hadn't really felt like telling Lavi that part and making him doubt the tactic even more.

He was right. A man cried out, then came chasing from out of the forest with a spear raised.

For a moment Allen reacted instinctively, lowering his head and baring his fangs with an aggressive snarl. Too late he realized that, of course, it had just been an evasive tactic.

Something cold and heavy fell over his snout, then curled around it like a snake. In a first reflex he lifted his head, trying to fling it off, but instead it only tightened, digging deep into the sensitive scaly skin on his nose.

"Allen!"

He ignored Lavi's cry as he shook his head, then backed away to get rid of the horrible thing. Yells of humans in front of him told him they were having a hard time to hold on to the chain, so he unfolded his wings to blow them out of balance.

However, a piercing pain stopped them from moving. He howled through his clenched teeth as his wings were forced to the ground. Soon, more cold, metal chains snaked over his neck and body too, pulling him towards the ground like gravity.

Somewhere behind him Lavi sounded like he was trying to fight their pursuers off, but there were just too many for him. Way more than Allen had expected, much smarter and stronger too.

He thrashed around as the humans gathered around him. Most were hanging on tight to the imprisoning chains, but a few, with nasty looking weapons closed in.

Adrenaline fueled the flames inside of his body, making smoke clouds escape his nostrils as he growled to them deeply.

The humans didn't seem to pay him any attention. They were too busy with fighting over their prey.

"A stab through the eye should do it."

"But you'd ruin it. The eyes will bring up at least 200 gold each."

"Then what else would you want to do? It's that or the heart. There is no other way to kill a dragon."

"We could also just take anything valuable while it's still alive. Surely it will have died by the time we're done with it."

He didn't like the sound of this. His mind rushed to find a solution for his situation, but at this moment he couldn't think of anything that wouldn't immediately kill his opponents. He wanted to avoid that at any cost. Especially after all the lives he had taken before already.

"That sounds like a plan. Give me that hammer, I'll start with the first thing I realized I wanted."

Allen pulled at his prison desperately as the man closed in on him, until he was standing next to his bound snout.

"Sorry, dragon," the man bared his pathetic excuse for teeth in a sardonic smirk. "You'll be separating from your fang first."

There was nothing he could do. All his muscles tensed, but his attackers had their strength in numbers. He didn't manage to move more than a foot before the hammer described an arc in the air and ended on his canine.

The piercing pain was so intense that he howled again. An ominous snapping sound echoed through the clearing.

"Hmm, this thing is stronger than I thought. It didn't come out yet." The man eyed his treasure, before lifting his weapon again. "But don't worry. I'll get it."

All instincts inside Allen surfaced. They screamed inside his head, forced themselves up through his nerves, yelling to him he had to survive.

That and the immense pain were probably the reason he was blinded so much that when the voice reached him he didn't think twice about his order.

 _'What are you doing? You can't die! You're mine as soon as I get out of here. So stand up and fight. Kill those lowly mortals!'_

A flash flame heated his throat and nostrils on its way outside. It sprayed over the grass, got picked up by the wind and carried to the side where the people holding his muzzle screamed and had no choice but to let go and flee.

With a jolt he crashed his head into his tormentor, then freed his jaws to indulge him in another sea of flames.

The screeches rising up fed the raw energy in his veins, accelerating his heart even further. He twisted, snapping at the left over men holding on to his body. As soon as his teeth sunk into the first three, crunching bones, the other humans let go of their posts too. They turned tail and fled.

He roared, dropping the corpses from his mouth back on the ground. A piercing pain in his jaw where his fang had been hit made him even more furious. Flames rose from his chest, burying the trees under destructive light and devouring people. He breezed, turned around to repay the rest too.

Then something pierced through the red hot fury in his mind. A lonely figure, crying out to him in desperation. His hair burned red like the flames around them.

 _Lavi…_

The dark haze in his mind dissipated as his eyes found a green one. The fire inside him lowered, finally taking away the suffocating hotness inside his body. His veins stopped burning.

"I'm so sorry."

He only realized he had said it out loud as he lowered his head, folding in his wings.

 _So sorry…_

In a desperate attempt to erase his own horrifying identity he pushed away all of his power, all of the fire, all of the eye-blinding brightness. He let the scales vanish, his claws turn to hands, his fangs turn to normal teeth. The grass felt cold against the naked human skin of his hands as he ended with his knees on the ground.

 _What have I done?_

He closed his eyes, trying to ban out the image of the burning forest, the dying people. However, their screams wouldn't let themselves get blocked out.

He had let himself get overwhelmed. He'd let Neah in, even when he was still sealed. He was entirely guilty for every life that had been taken today.

He pushed his face to the ground, trying to hide it between the wet grassy strands. Road, and the stars, had been right. Neah could control him.

Suddenly his eyes shot back open in terror. He lifted his head, barely registering Lavi was there too, asking him if he was alright. Instead he stared up at the night sky, seeing the stars shine brighter than ever. Their light was so overwhelming, it was like they could descend right there and burn him with it.

He screamed when his left cheek burst out in pain. Red hot and ice cold at the same time, the torturing sensation spread over his skin, down to his chin and up to his forehead. His blood ran cold, transporting the terrifying feeling through his body, all the way to his feet. Suddenly, a giant, prevalent force pulled him down, towards the earth, like it wanted to drag him straight through the ground towards the burning core deep inside it.

"Allen, speak to me? What's happening?" The hand the redhead put on his shoulder felt tremendously heavy. It was like the guy tried pushing him down too, just as those poachers had done before.

With a despaired cry Allen slapped it off and attempted to crawl back, which only resulted in a pathetic fall back on the ground that suddenly seemed so eager to keep him close.

"What's wrong?"

As soon as he met the worried green eye, he immediately regretted his action again. Panting from the shock he stayed where he was, digging his fingers in the earth.

He felt so heavy. It was like someone had taken his very being and started pushing on it. Like it was trying to imprison him.

 _It couldn't be…_

He locked his eyes on the ground in front of him, trying to push away the terror building up inside.

No, that didn't affect him. It had never done that. Mana had explained how it kept the other creatures down here, while they were up there. He couldn't possibly be imprisoned here like them. It couldn't be-

 _Gravity…_

Allen gasped for air as all tension inside him exploded. He forced himself up, ordering all of his dragon muscles to somehow meet his demands, no matter how much resistance they had to overcome. As a spring unleashing all of its power, he jumped up, transformed midair and slammed his wings down with all the force he had.

Lavi screamed and he was vaguely aware the redhead was forced to the ground by his take off, but he didn't take any time to slow down. Instead he forced his wings to move. They pushed the air, working against the horrible pull that was trying to get him back down.

 _Up… Up… Up… he had to get up there. Where the stars were. Where he belonged._

He locked his eyes on the lights, not paying attention on anything else as he climbed higher and higher. Lavi's voice faded under him, but the stars didn't get any closer.

He flapped desperately. Rising even higher. Still staring at the stars, his home.

 _Mana, no, Mana, you can't be doing this to me._

The air was growing icy cold. For the first time in his life the sensation crawled through his scales deep into his bones, paralyzing his already exhausted muscles. His lungs worked overtime, but the air seemed to get thinner and thinner the higher he got. His body was screaming for oxygen. His brain was getting hazy.

 _No_

This wasn't a sensation a star should have. There was no too cold for them up there. There was no need for oxygen where they lived. There was no gravity that was stronger than muscles.

 _"Mana, if the earth is so much less pretty than our home, than why don't the living beings there come up here? I wouldn't stay there if I were them."  
The man petted his head, following his gaze downwards, to the giant blue ball, turning slowly. "It's because they can't do that, Allen. Of course they would like to come here too. That's why you see them looking up to us so often. But they can't go as high as we can, because gravity keeps them down there."  
He looked up at the golden eyes with awe. "What's gravity?"  
"It's a force that keeps all that don't belong here on the earth. It pulls them down when they try to get up. If a bird tries to fly as high as you do, it will freeze, run out of breath and then be forced to land back on the earth's surface again. But you shouldn't worry about it too much. Something like that doesn't apply to stars like us. You will always be able to return, even if you decide to settle down on the earth sometime." _

No, he couldn't be stuck down here. The stars couldn't have banished him. Gravity was for mortals. Not for a dragon like him.

He howled, flapping his wings with the last strength he had left in them. The sound of pure desperation traveled through the air. It should have reached the bright spots above, but there wasn't any sign they had heard it. Their light shone as coldly as before.

The frost was eating at his wings. His muscles were giving up without their share of oxygen.  
He howled again, requesting at least one answer.

Nobody responded.

Even as his body became a subject to the overruling force of the earth again, the stars didn't seem to change anything in distance. In desperation he tried flapping his wings to get back up, but instead he kept making speed downwards, back to his imprisonment.

 _Let me go home!_

He cried out, twisting in the air as he'd done so many times before, but there was nothing supporting him. Trees met him instead, snapping under his hard scales, then the ground hugged him as he crashed down.

 _No, he couldn't stay here._

He curled back up, tried smashing his wings down again, but the limps felt heavy and slow and didn't manage to repeat the same movement before he crashed on the ground. He tried again, and again. The longer it lasted the more pathetic his attempts were getting.

Staring upwards, he cried out one more time, howling all of his pain to his home.

But as no answer came again he curled up, tried to push himself away. Wishing he could disappear right on the spot. His body responded by taking away his wings and shrinking to a tiny human. With less heaviness in his limps the change was quite welcome.

"Allen."

At some moment Lavi must have crept up to him. He could feel his hands on his shoulders, pushing him even further to the earth.

"I'm here, Al."

He didn't say it was okay.

He must have known it wasn't.

Allen's heart traveled up to his mouth and left it in a desperate wail. Tears burst out of his eyes, soaking his cheeks as they rolled downwards. He wrapped his arms around his body, desperately trying to hold it together as it felt ready to break apart.

An arm wrapped around him and pulled him closer to a chest, but Allen didn't feel able to respond to the touch. He bowed his head, burying it in between their bodies, hoping that hiding it would somehow make it disappear.

Of course it didn't. It just caused his tears to drip to the ground directly. His screams to be muffled by the fabric of their clothes. His fingers dug in his own shirt, scratching over his skin. But nothing seemed to lighten the pain inside of him. Somehow breathing had gotten even harder down here than just before up there.

His companion didn't say anything else anymore, but the arms didn't falter. They didn't move away as the night grew longer and longer. Lavi stayed right there, until every last bit of Allen's strength had left his body, until the very last tear was shed. And even then he held on to him. But the warmth of his partner's body didn't seem to be able to reach him, leaving him frozen to the core.

* * *

It hurt to see his companion this way. Though Lavi couldn't know for sure, he had an idea of what had happened last night. Somehow Allen had become unable to return to the stars. After he had killed those humans that attacked him, his scar had spread and bound him to the ground. It had been devastating to the dragon. Its howls had cut straight through his heart. The boy had cried until he had fallen asleep from exhaustion. The stars had been all for his partner, but now they were just as much out of reach for him as for anyone else.

He couldn't even understand how much pain Allen was feeling. However, most of it was clearly written in the dark bags under the boy's now dull grey eyes. He hadn't eaten much for breakfast either, instead had curled himself up, wrapping his arms around his stomach after just one rabbit. Lavi had packed the other ones for later, but something gave him the feeling Allen might not want it then either.

Maybe his tooth was hurting. He let his hand slip in the bag of his jacket where he touched the sharp point that had come off from Allen's fang. It was a very unconvincing theory though, after all that had happened. He had picked the shard up after Allen had fallen asleep. The poacher had probably damaged it so much that it had broken during all the violence. He would offer it to the boy later, but this didn't seem like the right moment.

The sound of something hitting the floor snapped him out of his thoughts and he turned around in worry. Allen had sunk in on the ground, panting heavily. Sweat was soaking his hair and dripping into his collar. As the boy dug his fingers in the soil, it became painfully visible how much his muscles were shaking.

Lavi walked back and squatted in front of him. "Are you okay, Al? Do you want to drink or eat something?"

The pale fingers tore through the earth with even more force. "I'm fine. Just a little tired."

"Alright, but this isn't really a nice spot to take a break. Shall I carry you until we find a better place where we can eat lunch?"

He turned his back to the boy, opening his arms backwards. However, when he turned his head because Allen didn't seem to be moving, he saw his companion had clenched his teeth.

"Why is it, that I'm unable to walk properly, but you can even carry me on top of your own weight?" The voice was soft, but the words were rough and full of frustration. "How can you stand living like this, as the world keeps pulling you down so violently? How can you take getting crushed by the weight of everything around and inside of you?"

Lavi turned around again to face the boy and, paying attention to the words, put a hand on the side of his shoulder, instead of on top of it, trying to lean it as little on his companion as possible. "I don't know any better, Al. For me it's entirely normal. I bet it will be for you soon as well. Your body probably just needs to get used to it now."

"I don't know if I want to get used to it," the statement was barely audible.

"Don't worry, Al. You're not alone in this. Come, get on my back. We'll find a place for a break. This world also has a lot of beautiful things to offer that I'm sure of the stars don't have."

This time he finally felt his companion's arms wrap around his chest as he offered his back to him. He grabbed the boy's legs, took a moment to stabilize himself and then rose slowly but firmly. As he put his feet back to walking he became strongly aware of the one he was carrying. Allen's breath made the boy's chest push against his shirt in short intervals. The pulse of a hurried heartbeat pounded where the skin of his neck touched his partner's. His back was getting warm from their trapped body heat.

Actually, he didn't mind carrying Allen at all. It felt kind of cozy and the boy weighed next to nothing.

About half an hour later their road met a little, calm stream that gurgled merrily through the trees. Lavi lowered Allen to the ground, who seemed to be able to stand a little again, then went to search for some firewood to roast another rabbit for lunch. When he came back his partner was gone, his footsteps leading deeper into the forest. He probably just needed a little space right now.

So the redhead concentrated on building a fire and hung the meat over it.

Just before their meal was ready and he was starting to wonder if he should call his companion, he jolted up in shock when the sound of tree trunks snapping echoed through the forest. Giant, irregular wing beats traveled through the air as a dragon tried to lift itself off the ground but didn't quite manage. The reptile was killing more trees than he was making height.

Lavi watched with pity as Allen kept doing more attempts to stay in the air. As easy as flying had seemed to him when they had gone up together, it looked more like crashing now.

The rabbit really was ready though. He took the meat off the fire, then stood up and put his hands next to his mouth to amplify the sound as he called: "Allen, are you coming? Lunch is ready!"

The sound of one last avalanche of breaking and falling trees made Lavi flinch. Then a much softer rustle of leaves announced the arrival of a human sized boy.

Allen looked terrible. His hair was intertwined with twigs and leaves. Mud and scratches covered his skin and he was limping lightly. He wouldn't meet Lavi's eye as he made his way to the fire and sat down next to it. He grabbed a leg from the rabbit, tearing it off violently before starting to munch hungrily.

Well, at least he was eating again.

"Shall I get this stuff out for you?" He leaned over to untangle a twig from the boy's hair.

Allen shrugged his shoulders. "Do whatever you want."

The cold reply worried him a little. He sat down behind his partner and started with brushing the leaves off. "Oh, come on, Al. I remember how upset you were about those ink stains before. I'm sure you must care at least a little about it."

"I just don't see the use of it anymore. It doesn't matter if it's white or grey. I'm not a star anymore, anyway."

Lavi was as careful as he could as he untangled the strands of hair one by one, giving freedom to a particularly stubborn branch that wouldn't let go. "You can't suddenly stop being who you are. You'll always be a star. You just happen to have fallen to the earth, but that doesn't make you any less one of them." He combed his fingers through the hair, feeling the softness return slowly. "Try to see it from the bright side. A fallen star means you can make a wish. I bet you'll get it granted when you've defeated this stupid Neah guy."

Allen didn't give any sign that he liked or disliked the care for his hair. "I don't think they can. As you said before: gravity isn't something you can just turn off. I think I'll be stuck here for eternity, unable to do anything. It's horrible. Even when I sit I can feel the earth pulling me down. He can feel it pressing me to the ground. I can't even eat properly without feeling how heavy the meat is in my stomach."

So that was why he had trouble eating.

"I hate this place," Allen whispered softly as he curled up. "It's like a prison."

Lavi massaged his fingers over the boy's scalp. "It's an incredibly big and wonderful prison though. If only you gave it a chance."

Allen lifted his head and turned around, looking at Lavi with dull grey eyes. "How do I do that, if the memory of all that I've lost is over my head every night?"

"You could try looking at all the pretty things this world has to offer, like the amazingly handsome redhead you've been traveling with." Lavi couldn't help but try to lighten the mood with a grin. "Besides, I think you're just misunderstanding. If I were the earth I would be pulling at you too. Nobody wants to let a cute guy like you get away."

Thankfully, it worked just a little. Allen's expression softened. The corners of his mouth even moved upward just a tiny bit. "Sounds like you'll have to try harder to keep me close then, Lavi. You've got very strong competition."

Lavi laughed as he grabbed one of the rabbit's legs for himself and offered the boy the rest. "Maybe we can become a trio. The earth seems to like me just as much."

"You're a weird one, Lavi." With those words Allen accepted the meat and dug in seemingly more excited than before.

"Says the dragon descended from the stars." He eyed the boy as he worked away the rabbit on top speed, crunching and swallowing it with bones and all. "I can't believe you never get stomach aches."

Allen sighed in satisfaction, then shoved some dirt over their fire to extinguish it. "I can't believe you still throw away worthy food just because it 'doesn't taste nice'." He got up. "Let's go. We've still got a long way ahead of us and I already got us behind on schedule."

After a few quick bites of meat, Lavi followed the boy's example. "Alright, but tell me if you start having trouble again."

"Thank you, but I won't." The determination in his companion's words would almost make him believe it was going to be true.

But of course it wasn't. As soon as they set off it was clear Allen was still having a hard time. Though he had been able to keep up easily before, he now stayed behind more and more. Lavi tried to slow down his pace unnoticeably, but he was sure the boy had already become aware of it by now. They were barely making any movement forward anymore. However, Allen wouldn't admit defeat. His silver eyes were fixed on the ground determinedly. His breath was quick and ragged. His legs were trembling. It was clear it was more about pride than anything else though, so Lavi didn't say anything, just watched, wishing he could help in any way.

Every time Allen would stumble he would go over to him, but his companion wouldn't look him in the eye as he said he was alright and he forced himself back up on unwilling muscles.

Lavi couldn't imagine what gravity could possibly be like for a creature that had lived so long without, but Allen's terrible effort on simply walking gave him the big idea. He was starting to understand why the boy would feel so trapped by the earth.

Finally, after a few hours Allen didn't stand up again. It wasn't that he wasn't trying. Just that both his arms and legs seemed to lack strength to. Lavi watched from a distance as his companion clenched his teeth, tried and failed again. Then, to the redhead's shock two giant structures suddenly sprouted from the boy's back, slapping down violently, creating a whirlwind around them. Though the wings seemed to be able to lift him just a bit, Allen didn't seem capable of carrying his own weight. His knees gave away under him, making him smack back on the ground in a humiliating crash.

He couldn't watch this anymore.

"Al, maybe you should call it a day. You can't expect your body to adapt so fast. Give your muscles some time to build up strength."

Allen didn't answer. He just stared at the ground while he panted. The wings disappeared.

Lavi walked towards him and kneeled down. "You tried really hard. Let's just rest now, okay? I'll carry you until we find a place to stay the night."

There was no answer again. However, the trembling arms were clear enough about the message the boy's body was giving. He wasn't going to get up again any time soon.

"Come, get on." He turned around, offering his back once again.

He hadn't expected his companion to give in so quickly, but two arms wrapped around his neck. He had to try harder to get the boy's legs in a good grip this time, since Allen didn't seem able to have any remaining strength to help anymore. As soon as they were set he started with a fast but steady pace.

They would have to speed up a little if they still wanted to reach Neah before the earl did. He knew how important that was for his companion. He could just as well try to at least help him with that after all this.

Something wet, but warm dripped into his neck, snapping him out of his thoughts. He turned his head a little in worry, then realized what it was as another droplet hit his skin. He couldn't see Allen's eyes under the white strands he was hiding behind. However, the silent tears rolling down the pale cheeks glittered in the sunlight.

* * *

There was one thing Lavi really respected Allen for and that was his perseverance. Even if he had cried that first afternoon of gravity, he didn't let it drag him down. The following days his companion continued in the same determined energy as before. He wouldn't give up, no matter how hard the earth's never-ending pull was on him. Even more: as soon as walking was starting to go better, he started practicing. Early in the morning Lavi would wake up to find his companion working out, trying to build up muscles. Not just his legs, but his arms too and later his wings. First as a human, then as a whole dragon. As days passed, crashing turned to flying and Allen's mood was getting better. It was clear that as he was getting used to gravity and training to overcome it, he was starting to feel less trapped and more free to move.

Lavi couldn't be happier when he felt their journey was starting to feel a little bit as light-hearted as before. He was starting to grow really fond of the boy and seeing Allen happy, made him feel warm and excited inside.

But even if his partner was training so hard, he hadn't expected the dragon to regain his strength so quickly. He couldn't help but feel surprised when Allen offered him a flight barely two weeks later.

"Are you sure, Al? Do you think you're ready to carry even more weight?"

The dragon showed its razor sharp teeth in a smile. The chip out of his fang was clearly visible, but Allen hadn't wanted to take the shard back when offered. "Such a tiny guy like you? I think I'll manage. Besides, it's time for me to repay you after carrying me so many times. We can at least try to make some distance too. Flying is faster than walking."

Lavi nodded, then made his way over to the reptile. He remembered how fearful he'd been before. Now it didn't seem strange at all to get so close to the dragon. Everything about it radiated 'Allen'. The scales reminded him of the soft white hair. The silver eyes were as bright as the boy's. Even if he was in a different body, nothing about his companion had really changed.

The horns felt rough but sturdy in his hands when he made himself comfortable on Allen's neck. Strong muscles shifted under the hard scales as the giant creature rose its face to the sky, where thousands of stars shone down on them. Then wings, white as the moon floating between them, unfolded and caught the air.

A heavy jolt of gravity pushed him against the strong neck as the dragon under him rose, raising them to the sky. Soon they passed the tips of the trees, then rose over the world like an eagle.

It may not have been as steady as the other time they had flown, but Allen still seemed in his element. The elegant dragon body swirled through the air as the wings pushed them ever higher, ever closer to the stars. The scales under him seemed to light up in the silver light of night. When Allen looked like this, it wasn't hard to believe he belonged up there too.

"The view is still beautiful," Lavi sighed as he stared at the landscape around them.

"It will be even better if we expend it further." As to underline his words, the wings accelerated, carrying them even higher.

The cold night air bit in his cheeks. With just silent stars so far above them and the earth so far below, it almost felt like they were alone in the world. Lavi let the horns go and laid down on the hard scales, enjoying the heat radiating off them and filling his chest.

He had to admit he hadn't thought they'd ever fly like this again. Now that they were finally doing so, he was starting to realize how much he had looked forward to it.

"I can understand why flying would be important to you," he told Allen as he turned his head to the side to steal a glance of the earth. It was still getting further away from them. He wondered how much higher they would be able to go. But even so far, the stars didn't look any different. For a moment he felt guilty for feeling relieved that Allen couldn't return. He didn't think he would be able to accept it if his companion would go so far away from him.

"It feels awesome, doesn't it?" Allen agreed softly.

A shiver of cold ran over his spine. The air was getting thinner too. His breath was coming out in clouds: many, short lived clouds, multiplying as Allen kept on climbing. The trees had turned into a dark blur now. A few tiny lights, even smaller than some stars, spread out under their view now. People, with fires, Lavi realized. The thought of warmth made him lean closer to his partner to steal some more of the dragon's heat.

"It's like the whole world doesn't really matter anymore," Lavi whispered a little breathlessly. "I feel like we're the only ones here. It's so silent."

It was. He didn't think he'd ever experienced such a quiet night before. The regular flap of the giant reptile wings were the only sound under the moonlight.

"Yes, there aren't many living beings that go here. There isn't much you can find so high. But it makes me feel closest to home. It helps me clear my mind." Allen turned his head, looking at Lavi with one silver eye, that reflected the stars brilliantly. "I've been wanting to share this with you. Though it might not mean anything to you."  
Lavi grinned, even though his limps felt ready to freeze off. "It means a lot to me, Al. It's awesome."

Allen turned his head back up, setting more force behind his wings. They were so high now they didn't seem to be moving any further from the earth anymore.

"But… You know," he was having real trouble forcing the words out by now. A fog, dark like the air surrounding them, was starting to swirl into his mind. "Maybe… this is… high enough…"

Immediately the dragon leveled himself. For a moment they floated between the black nothingness, the lights of heaven the only coordination points for up and down. Allen's breathing had gotten heavy too. White trails of mist traveled through the darkness in front of his nostrils.

Slowly the wings turned and with a gentle drift, they started to descend. Lavi felt almost sorry as he felt gravity pull them back down. He didn't want this moment to end. Somehow it did feel really magical up here. An unexpected desire to spread wings of his own and fly off to the stars welled up inside of him. Was that what Allen was feeling too?

It got just a little warmer and the air just a little thicker. Allen didn't seem in a hurry to go back down either. He let them float through the night like a lantern, drifting on the winds that changed with every altitude.

"I can only go just a bit higher than that myself." Allen's words broke the silence softly. "After that, I get trouble to breathe too. Even a creature with wings has its limits. That's how it was always meant to be from the start."

Lavi felt kind of empty at those words. He knew they were true. "That's what the stars are for. If they wouldn't be unreachable, nobody would dream of doing so."

"I guess so." There weren't any raw emotions in the boys voice anymore. Just a dull acceptance.

"But what you did was amazing, Al. I've always been the type of guy who doesn't see any use into dreaming about something you can't get anyway, but tonight, you actually made me do it. I actually thought we might be able to reach the stars somehow."

A deep sigh breezed through the dragon's body. "I'm glad you liked it as much as I did, Lavi."

For a moment they floated in silence. The icy wind ruffled his red hair, though Allen didn't even seem to feel it. Those scales must be very warm. He shivered, wishing he could breathe flames as well.

It didn't surpass the dragon. "Are you cold?"

He really didn't want to go down yet, but his body was telling him otherwise. It would be useless to lie. "Yeah, just a little."

"Shall I warm you up?"

The tone in his companion's voice made him suspicious. "I'm not so sure I want to say yes to that."  
Allen laughed in short rumbles. "Smart choice. I promise it will be harmless though. I'll keep a good eye on you and I won't go too close to the ground."

He'd been right. Allen was planning something rough.

"I'm not sure, Al. I'm not that used to flying yet."

"That's exactly why! I'll show you what some real flying is like. With the right amount of trust, you'll love it. I promise to go easy on you."

It did sound kind of exciting. "Alright then."

"Grab my horns and hold on real tight. Push the rest of your body as close to me as you can. Use your knees to stay on my neck."

He didn't really like the sound of that, but Allen didn't notice. Before the redhead had had the time to mentally prepare himself, the wings folded in and the world tilted. Allen duck his head towards the earth and curled his tail up in a perfect dive. Lavi felt his heart slip to his throat with the movement. Then gravity got hold on them and sent his stomach the other way. With a terrified scream he pressed his knees into the scales so roughly he couldn't imagine it would feel comfortable for the dragon. The slight breeze turned to a heavy storm around them as they made more and more speed. His stomach seemed to end up somewhere in his feet. The serpent body under him turned lazily and suddenly the stars passed under him, then it was all dark again. His arms felt like they were going to get ripped off. His legs hurt from the pressure he was putting on them. He'd never fallen this long before. Their speed seemed to keep building up. His brain was starting to lose its coordination of what was where, except for the strong force still pulling them down relentlessly. He was starting to feel really sick. It was like all his organs were pushed out of their normal place inside his body.

Then, so sudden it possibly made him even more dizzy, they started slowing down. Slowly, bit by bit, wings unfolded. First vertically, then Allen pulled up controllably, converting their downward energy to forward little by little. When they leveled back to horizontal Lavi could feel his organs slide back in place slowly. His arms were trembling so hard that the tremors went all the way to his chest. However, if he'd thought that was all he'd been wrong.

They were going much faster now and Allen was making even more speed with his wings. Before Lavi could say anything the dragon's head jolted up, taking the rest with him. Strong centripetal forces pushed him against his companion's neck as they completed a perfect looping, then another smaller one.

Finally the wings stopped flapping and spread out horizontally again. Allen seemed done. They had gone back to drifting on the air lazily.

However, it wasn't nearly as relaxing as earlier. Lavi's fingers were cramped around the horns. His breath seemed almost in synch with his heartbeat. Sweat trickled over his back, making him even colder than before. So much for warming him up.

"Lavi, are you okay?"

The redhead pried his hands free from the horns, then let himself fall back on the scaly neck. "I think I'm going to be sick."

"I'm sorry. I might have overdone it a little with those loopings."

"A little?"

"Sorry." He really did sound regretful.

Lavi took a moment to breathe and let his body calm down. Then he cracked a smile. "It's okay." A rush of excitement was starting to flow in now that the fear was starting to subside. "It was pretty fun actually. I just think I need to get used to it."

The dragon hummed in satisfaction. "I told you so. Don't worry. I'll let you get used to it soon enough. We should go flying more often anyway."

"Yeah, we should."

Adrenaline sharpened his sight, making the view even better. They had gotten a lot closer to the earth. Individual shapes could be made out again, shining grey under them. A new rush of excitement flowed through him when he remembered their height earlier and suddenly realized he'd seen something really important.

"You know, Al, you've just helped me solve one of life's biggest mysteries."

The dragon sounded really surprised when he answered. "I did?"

"Yeah!" He pushed himself back and looked all the way to the horizon. "Even if it was so little it was barely visible, I saw the surface was bent when we were up there. Do you know what that means? The earth's round!"

Unexpectedly the dragon began to laugh. He could feel the rumbles travel through his body. "You didn't know that already?"

The question surprised Lavi. "Of course not. How should I know? It's been a discussion between people for ages."

"The earth's round, Lavi," Allen promised nicely. "It's round and floats in space between all the stars. There it turns slowly, so we stars can look at all the places it has."

Of course, a star would know so much! How couldn't he ever have thought of that before? "The earth turns! So, is that the reason the stars travel over the sky at night?"  
Allen hummed shortly in agreement.

"So, what's the middle point of the universe? I've read so many books, but nobody seems to really know for sure."  
Allen turned his wings a little, so they made a lazy bent in the air. "Of course they wouldn't, I wouldn't even know. The universe is gigantic. Everything moves around each other. Most of them circle, if you can really call it that. The moon around the earth, the earth and other planets around the sun and the sun itself travels too. The universe is a gigantic system. Nobody would be able to see the other side of it, even we stars."

"Incredible." Lavi sighed as he lowered himself again, feeling like his mind was ready to explode. "I didn't think it would all be so big. It's incredible though. That we're the only place with the sun and the earth." He jolted back up in realization. "Or are we?!"

Allen lifted his head to the sky. "Who knows? The sun is just a star like all the others. But I don't remember seeing another planet with life. That's why most stars look this way. It's the most interesting. Maybe this place is some kind of a middle point after all."

The sun, a star. Well, at least that question was also answered by that. "I can't believe there are still so many secrets out there while we haven't even discovered everything about the earth yet."

Allen hummed as he turned slowly while floating down.

The sound of water breaking made Lavi look back down. They were just above a lake. Allen's reptile claws were drifting through the water in their flight, slowly going deeper and deeper.

Lavi smiled uncomfortably. "Al?"

In response the dragon shifted his wings and let them sink in completely. The cold made Lavi gasp for air as the liquid soaked his clothes.

"Al, I thought you were going to warm me up!"

The dragon folded his wings in to continue swimming like a giant, white sea serpent. "I already did that. You'll survive. It's not nearly as cold here as up there."

He was right, but still the sudden contact with water hadn't been comfortable. Luckily his body was adapting soon.

"Swimming is great," Allen mused softly. "Inside the water is the only place where gravity isn't as prominent as everywhere else. Here I don't have to listen to it necessarily. It's a lot like how it used to be."

"I get that. But would you warn me next time you want to take a swim, please?"

The lake was very big. He could barely see the other side, even if Allen was going a lot faster than a swimming human ever could.

"Sorry, I will next time," Allen promised. "So, what about I tell you to hold your breath now? We're going to take a dive."

For the first time that day the dragon actually offered him enough time to prepare. Lavi drank in air eagerly, trying to store as much as he could. Then, when his companion was sure he was ready, they dove under.

Lavi had expected it to be pitch black out here. But the moon was sending its rays deep into the lake. The water was incredibly clear. The fish swam around them merrily, though the dragon seemed to scare them and they wouldn't come up close. Allen cut through the water like he was made for it. If he hadn't seen the dragon fly before, he would definitely have thought the reptile was a sea serpent instead. With this speed the underwater life was astounding.

Soon enough Allen went back up to grab some air. They took a moment to store up more oxygen, then Lavi agreed to diving even more when his companion offered it.

Something about the way the stars shone in the water made it all magical. Tiny creatures, he hadn't ever really payed attention to before, seemed to light up in the silver rays. Fish scales glittered as the creatures moved. The deeper they went, the bigger some life forms were getting and Allen seemed determined to go as deep as they could. He made their diving sessions longer every time, the arcs to the depths were starting to get straighter too.

However, at some point the dragon stocked on its way down. It's head floated back up, apparently alerted by something. For a moment Lavi looked around in confusion. The water had gotten very dark here. Especially in front of them. It took him a while to realize it wasn't just dark.

It was the shadow of a thing.

His blood ran cold when something, five times bigger than the dragon he already considered as gigantic, moved slowly. The creature's body parts were hard to make out with the lack of light, but he was pretty sure that what moved in had to be its head.

Allen swirled around in the water. He swam back and forth slowly, seemingly trying to catch a glimpse of the other creature, that seemed to take him in as well. Lavi fastened his grip when Allen curled his body and starting swimming towards the shadow. He tried to tell the reptile not to do it, but his breath was coming out in meaningless, grey bubbles.

They made a bent and slowly, but surely, the dragon made a circle around the giant thing watching them. Now, a bit closer, Lavi thought he could see something like flippers. However, he couldn't be sure, as they were so big that they extended beyond the limited sight the far away moon offered them.

Finally Allen had had enough. He stared at the giant creature one more time, then made some distance. The shadow shifted. The head moved away. Then something else moved in. A giant structure forced itself down next to them, creating such a rapid storm of water that even Allen was caught by surprise. As the creature moved away, they were flushed away by the water movement it was making.

Lavi made sure he didn't lose Allen in streams pulling at them as they tumbled through the lake. He was really starting to run out of air. He would never be able to get up quickly enough by himself. It was clear his companion had much bigger lungs too. With the interesting creature from before his partner seemed to have forgotten the need of oxygen of his human passenger.

When the danger of getting pulled apart finally subsided enough, Lavi let go of one of the horns and used his hand to tap Allen's head. As the dragon didn't respond immediately, he wasn't sure he had understood. However, his lungs were ready to burst. The situation was getting really tight now. So he tapped again, harder this time, then let go and started swimming upwards as fast as he could, hoping Allen would somehow get the hint.

Shock traveled through his body and made him drop the last of air he'd still had saved in his lungs when something grabbed his ankle. One half of his mind screamed after the bubbles rapidly wriggling their way towards the surface, the other part freaked out about the thing pulling him down, even further from the air he needed.

Where the heck was Allen?

But there he was. A pale human face popped up in front of him as the boy pulled him even further down to the same depth. The white hair was dancing around it like a halo, looking fluffy and as free as the whiskers in his dragon form. His eyes were shining brightly. His body seemed to glow softly, even with the little light down there.

No, this wasn't the moment to play. His whole body was burning in agony, yelling at him that everything was ready to break apart. His mind wasn't going to last forever. The first fog clouds were already invading it. With Allen in front of him like a big shining star, it wasn't much different from when they had gone too high and the air had just started to dissipate around them.

With a last effort he moved his hand, signing upwards. Hoping his panicked expression would somehow make clear how serious the problem was.

However, Allen just smiled. He moved inwards, so close that Lavi closed his eye in reflex. Something soft touched his lips. It brushed past them gently before softly, but clearly willing them to open. As Lavi opened his mouth he could feel a hand touch the back of his head and pushing them even closer. A second later a gust of air breezed through his throat, filling up his lungs and overflowing them with the oxygen they had been wishing for. Lavi drank Allen's breath in eagerly. An arm wrapped around his chest and pushed, making him lose it again through his nose, so another gust of air could fill it afterwards.

A dragon's lungs really were much bigger than a human's.

Even if his body still begged him to go up, his mind cleared and the strong need lessened. He felt himself melt away in the moment. His arms traveled to the boy in front of him and wrapped themselves around the delicate waist, pulling it closer. For a moment there wasn't any transition of air anymore, but their tongues meeting each other for the first time in a curious but playful manner. The hand behind Lavi's head curled its fingers so they brushed through his hair. The arm around his waist tightened almost synchronically to his own.

Then, like a drop breaking the surface, Allen suddenly pulled himself free of their embrace. He was blushing a little, but his eyes were sparkling even brighter than normally. His skin had turned to an almost eye blindingly white. He was really sure it wasn't just from reflection now anymore.

A second later the human boy vanished, a big dragon taking his place. Lavi grabbed the horns the moment they moved close to him, and together they shot back up. On their way to the surface, he couldn't help but suddenly wonder what had made him in such a hurry upwards before.

Allen broke the surface with much more force than earlier. Wings expanded and a moment later they caught them in the air, dragging the last bit of the tail out of the water too.

It was clear the wetness and all the exercise were starting to tire Allen out by now, but he didn't seem ready to rest just yet. He took them up into the sky again, leaving the lake behind so far that Lavi could finally see all shores properly. A stunning orange light was starting to creep over the landscape by now. Silver moonlight was starting to fade as the sun announced its presence. The leaves under them colored golden in the rays. The clouds above them purple.

Allen set course to the most brilliant spectacle of colors: the surface of the sea. The dragon soared over the landscape, leaving a gigantic, even bigger than the lake creature from before, shadow gliding over the earth. The beat of wings seemed to awaken the first birds, who started chirping in surprise.

They landed on a mighty, pointy cliff. Allen curled his body around it, his head just sticking out over the top. They stared at the horizon changing colors so brightly, that it was almost impossible to imagine that just a moment ago grey had been the only taint in sight.

"It really is beautiful, isn't it, Al?"

"Yes, it is," Allen's voice was soft. He sounded a little confused, as if his mind had trouble processing the new experiences.

Finally the dragon flew back up, but just to find a resting spot. They drifted on the breeze until they could settle down on a small, high plateau, covered with just as many colors as the sky.

Before Lavi could do anything, the body under him suddenly disappeared. He yelped as he hit the ground. Allen scrambled back a little further, apologizing, then turned back to a dragon.

For a moment he couldn't understand why his companion even had taken the effort to transform, but understanding dawned soon when the enormous reptile suddenly threw itself on the flowers and started rolling and scrubbing in them like a dog who had just been let out for the first time in days.

Laughter escaped his mouth as he stared at his companion, fooling around so roughly that petals and pollen filled the air and danced into his face.

As sudden as Allen had started it, he also ended it. The dragon body disappeared, leaving just a human boy between the broken stems. Flowers were scattered all over his hair. The laugh he sent Lavi was almost ecstatic.

Unable to control his own happy feelings, Lavi broke into a run, then dove to the ground next to his partner. He rolled a little lazily on his spot between the plants, then turned to Allen to return the smile.

For a moment they just laughed like fools, before Allen's eyes traveled upwards, gaining a little nostalgic glim. "Look, it's the morning star."

Lavi followed his gaze, staring at the little speck too. It was barely visible in the light that flooded it from the east. The blackness around it was making place for blue. "Yeah, so sad it's all alone up there, while we're here having fun between the flowers."

He met Allen's eyes with his own. The boy's sadness seemed to be melting away just as soon as it had come up.

To make sure the moment wouldn't get awkward, Lavi grinned and brushed a hand through Allen's white hair, smearing the yellow pollen even more into it. "By the way, I like your new hairdo, Al. You should consider getting it more often."

Allen chuckled. "I'll think of it." Then he closed his eyes. A somewhat peaceful expression spread out on the pale face. One Lavi hadn't seen on it before.

Lavi stared at it for a while, until he realized the boy's breath had gone to a steady and calm rhythm. Flying around so much must have made his companion tired.

And not just him.

Lavi yawned and let his eye drift shut slowly. They could just as well take a nap here. After all, with a dragon at his side, he would be safe anywhere. With the rush of the sea on the background fusing with the sound of Allen's breath, his mind slowly faded away to repeat their flight from before. In his dreams, Allen's lips felt so incredibly soft, he wished the boy had never taken him back to the surface again.


	3. Chapter 3

Allen woke up with the heavy scent of flowers in his nose. A little confused he opened his eyes. A light blue sky, framed by high stems with flowers met him. Butterflies flapped around, unaware of the suddenly awake human. Bees zipped past, almost making a race of landing on the next flower faster than their competition. Allen stretched out his hand to touch one of the purple heads above him, surprising a big fluffy bumblebee that buzzed up with deep rumbling wings.

These creatures didn't seem to care they could go so much higher with their wings. They were just happy with flying around between the pretty colors.

Allen pushed himself up, expanding his view. As high as they were he could see the forest on one side, the sea on the other. The waves made the sun's rays dance. Between them, big bodies moved as a group of whales surfaced to spray the water from their airways.

It was incredible how different the world looked under the sunlight. Stars were beautiful, but they weren't capable of bringing out the many colors that attracted the bugs around him. He shifted his eyes back to the flowers. This time more slowly, he brought his finger to one of the petals. The bumblebee that seemed to be searching for the sweet treasure inside stepped around slowly, not paying any attention to the fact that it's little black paws were finding their hold on a pale human finger. Allen smiled at the light, tickling sensation. It was incredible that a creature like this seemed so content with its world.

A soft rumble announced the bug's departure. He followed it with his eyes as it left his finger and went on to the next flower.

He dropped his hand in his lap, then let his eyes dart to the figure next to him. Lavi seemed fast asleep. He was breathing heavily. His face was completely relaxed. The red hair had gotten all messy in their flight earlier, but for some reason Allen wished it would always look like that. With the sun making it light up like flames, he couldn't resist the temptation of touching it.

However much he liked the stars, they didn't do Lavi any justice. Of course the sun was a star too, but it wasn't the same as seeing all of them in the night sky. However, right now, seeing Lavi's face lit brightly, he was kind of glad it was daytime. For the first time, the wonder of everything around him seemed to actually reach his mind completely. The brightness of the colors seemed to outshine his wish for the silver light of the moon. Lavi had been telling him how beautiful the earth was all this time, but he hadn't really paid much attention to it. He'd thought that was what humans said just to soothe themselves with the idea that they were stuck down here. But for the first time he was starting to realize his companion hadn't just been lying to himself to be positive. For the first time he was starting to see himself how pretty everything was around him and how much more there might be on the huge surface the planet had. He'd been looking upwards to the stars so much, he'd never actually taken the effort to open his eyes for what was in front of him all along.

He curled one of the red strands around his finger, inspecting it like he saw it for the first time. The complexity, the bright color of the simple hair seemed breathtaking all of a sudden. Finally he let go of it, so it fell back on the ground. His companion seemed completely unaware. The defenselessness of his partner made a protective feeling rise inside of Allen. Suddenly he wondered if he should turn back into a dragon and curl around him again.

But if he did that, he would become unable to do other things. Like that time in the lake. As a dragon he could never have shared his air. He hadn't really expected it to feel so good though. Everything in him had warmed up, like he had been preparing to breathe out a sea of flames.

Had it just been the heat of the moment? Had it been a coincidence? He'd watched a lot of humans in his long lifetime. He knew how they showed their love to each other. But he wasn't human. Was it still possible to feel things like that as a star and a dragon? He bent down, assured by the fact that the redhead was still deeply unconscious. Carefully he pressed a soft kiss on the closed eyelids of Lavi's only good eye. A new, peaceful glow of warmth started to spread in his chest. Convinced by the growing good feeling he moved downwards, brushing his lips against the other's like before. For a moment he wondered if he should go further. What Lavi would think of it. In the lake he hadn't seemed to mind.

However, his thoughts were broken apart when a set of arms wrapped around him and pulled him to the ground. Allen yelped softly as Lavi pushed him against his chest. "No, don't leave, Al."

For a moment he was sure his companion had woken up, but then he realized the words didn't make any sense. The redhead's breath returned to the same heavy rhythm as before, the arms relaxed.

He was still asleep.

Allen smiled, feeling his cheeks burn up at the thought of what the guy could possibly be dreaming of. Carefully he let his hands slide over the guy's shirt and dug his fingers deep in the folds. He pulled himself closer, burying his face in the fabric. "Don't worry, Lavi," he answered gently, hoping his words would somehow reach his companion in his dreams. "I can't." He sighed softly, caressing the warm emotions that filled his mind like warm, fluffy clouds. It was so much like what he'd felt when he was still with Mana that he felt the desire to start shining like a star. "I won't either."

* * *

They were really getting closer to their destination by now. The fuzzy cloud Lavi had been walking on for a few days was starting to dissipate from the moment Allen told him he was starting to actually feel Neah's presence. He hadn't really thought much of their mission anymore. It had seemed unimportant ever since their magical flight. Not to mention the way he had woken up with the boy in his arms the next night. He had to admit it had been kind of embarrassing, but at the same time he couldn't ignore the strong desire it had woken up inside of him. At first he had thought his companion had felt the same, but the past few days the boy had started to avoid him instead. He still wasn't sure how to tell Allen how he felt without making himself look like a fool.

And now they were almost reaching their goal. He had to move fast. No-one knew what would happen as soon as they would reach their destination after all. If Allen would be in time to defeat Neah and if so, if he would be able to return to the stars after all.

If anything, Lavi wanted to at least prevent that with the boy's own free will. He couldn't stand to be separated by such a giant, unimaginable distance.

However, as he lay there on his back next to the campfire with his companion sitting on the other side, he couldn't think of anything. He stared at the stars, hoping they would somehow offer him some answers, but instead they gazed upon him in silent white. His mind wandered in the late night. The light above them turned into people in beautiful white robes, dancing around with ribbons that floated like shining rays.

Suddenly Lavi realized where he had seen that before. He turned his head to see if his companion was still awake. He was. Allen was staring into the flames with his mind just as far, but he wasn't asleep.

"Hey, Al, I just remembered something pretty interesting."

Grey eyes blinked and turned back to bright silver. "You did?"

"Yeah," Lavi worked himself up to his elbows. "You know, I once was in this village where they had this whole religion based on the sky. Just as I got there they were organizing a whole festival and you know what the most awesome thing was? They had this huge dance, where everyone personalized a star. They danced in circles all around the square in the exact arcs the stars also describe in the night sky around that time of year. It was breathtaking."

Allen smiled excitingly. "Yeah, I've been there too! When I was really homesick I stayed there for a while and asked them to teach me." He frowned in thought. "I think I can still remember most of them."

"You mean you can dance?" Lavi pushed himself up entirely now.

Amusement slid over the boy's face. "Well, yes, I guess you could say that."

"Would you…?"

He almost didn't dare to ask further, but Allen laughed like he'd already expected the question.

"Alright then, but don't expect too much of me. It was about a century ago and it's probably much harder with gravity." He rose slowly. For a moment he tilted his head to the stars above them, then he closed his eyes, breathed deeply… and started to dance.

With slow but elegant gestures he moved over the forest floor. Though every step was different, his body shifted in a steady speed, making him circle with just the same continuity as a star. His arms swirled around his head like rays of light. His hair glowed. The moves were all pretty and bright as the fires burning above them, but never caused him to stray from his orbit.

It was exactly as Lavi remembered it. In this role it seemed perfectly clear where Allen belonged.

"You're doing Sirius!"

Allen stopped and smiled so brightly that it almost seemed like he was emitting light himself. Even the little chip in his tooth couldn't dull the perfect radiance. "I did! I didn't expect you to be able to guess it in such detail."

Lavi laughed, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. "Well, I've read a lot of books on the stars and I remember most of the dances I saw."

A spark jumped between the silver eyes. "Then what about this one." Suddenly he went back to dancing. However, this time he wasn't as precise as before. He swirled around the clearing in little irregular loops, slowing down every time he started going upstream, and speeding up again as he finished the strange out of arc motion.

Lavi didn't have to think long about that one. "You're Mars now."

Allen laughed as he let his body come to a standstill. "Yeah, though that isn't a star strictly speaking, but it looks like one from down here."

"That was really good though. You looked just as good as the village people there. You're a natural talent."

Allen bowed deeply. "Well, thank you."

Lavi put his finger under his chin and stared at the boy thoughtfully. For a moment he wondered if he should ask it, if it wouldn't open up old wounds inside the still recovering heart. But then he decided to take the risk carefully. "So, Al, since you're a star, what does your dance look like?"

Allen's eyes widened in surprise, then he smiled a little regretfully. "I wasn't visible from here, Lavi, so they never made a dance for me."

That would explain why nobody seemed to have noticed one of the stars had suddenly disappeared when the dragon had descended.

"Then what would it look like? You should know. It's about you after all."

That sparked some thought into the boy. Silver eyes traveled back upwards to the tiny white lights in the darkness. A pale hand traveled to a white strand of hair and started curling it around a finger. Then Allen looked back at Lavi and smiled a little unsurely.

"Well, I guess it would look a bit like this." He closed his eyes, then started moving slowly. The steps were small, the movement of his arms delicate. The whole dance was much more modest than the ones he'd done before. Within the usual arc, that presented his path through the sky seen from the earth, he was describing small perfect circles, like he was going around something that was doing the actual big arc. The boy's face was relaxed and peaceful as he danced. It was clear that his body was basically moving on his own. As Lavi watched him act out the path of the star, he couldn't help but feel that Allen was completely in his element. A strong sensation of alien powers radiating from the boy caught him and suddenly he felt sure that if gravity hadn't taken such a hold on Allen, he would just have started floating right there. The pale skin glowed up and soon enough it was radiating soft silver light like the moon.

After a few circles, Allen let his dance flow to a slow stop. He opened his eyes slowly, looking like he was still waking up from a trance. When he caught sight of Lavi he smiled. Then he froze. "Oh wait, I didn't do that entirely right, I should end it like this." Suddenly he started dancing with rapid steps, flinging himself out of his arc and hurtling himself towards the redhead.

For a moment Lavi thought he would have to catch the boy before they would collide, but then Allen stopped as abruptly as he had started moving. They were so close to each other that he could feel the air of Allen's quick breath brush his skin. Allen's cheeks were flushed from the exercise. His eyes were shining brighter than usual.

"Now I'm on the earth as I'm supposed to be. Together with you."

Lavi laughed, suddenly realizing what the boy had meant to do. "Yeah, I guess that would be the most fitting dance indeed."

"So what about you, Lavi?" It seemed a little more than a joke. Allen was actually interested. "What would your dance look like if you were a star?"

That wasn't a question he had expected. Not really one that was really in his capabilities to answer either, but the boy was looking at him with such brimming expectation that he couldn't possibly deny it.

He closed his eye, thinking about what made him 'him'. What was important for him and how that would express itself in him as a star. There wasn't really much he could think of. Every time he thought of stars he would just see Allen's bright smile, with twinkling silver eyes. Maybe he should just use that.

With a grin he opened his eyes. "Maybe a bit like this." He took one step back to create some distance between him and his companion, then started stepping around randomly. He wasn't really sure how he was supposed to dance as a star, so he let his limbs choose their own path. However, as he circled around the boy, he suddenly grabbed Allen's arms and started swinging him with him.

If he wasn't a real star, he was basically leaning on Allen to be one, right? It didn't seem like an entirely stupid choice of dance to him anyhow.

Allen burst out laughing. At first Lavi tried to keep pulling him along, but he had to stop when the fit was paralyzing his companion.

"Wow, Lavi, you're almost like a twin star."

"A twin star?"

"Yeah," Allen rubbed his eyes with his sleeve, "There are pairs of stars that always circle around each other. They are super clingy, always keeping each other close. Some of them even get so close that they fuse. Almost like what you were doing just now."

Lavi grinned. Actually, that description didn't sound so bad at all, but maybe he'd better not say that. Then he thought back to the dance the boy had done just before. It had confused him a little at the time. "Wait, you were making circles too. You're a twin star!"

Allen smiled, his cheeks darkening. "Yeah, basically. I wasn't very noticeable though. Mana was really big and bright, while I'm just a little dwarf star."

For some reason it felt like Allen was sharing really intimate information. The stories about his time as a star, high up in the sky, were incredibly interesting. They were starting to make him look at Allen with different eyes.

He grinned, pulling a white strand of hair playfully. "A dwarf star, I knew it. You _are_ a beansprout!"

Allen eyes widened in surprise, then narrowed indignantly. "Call me that again and I'll flash you."

"Flash me? That sounds like a very dangerous warning coming from such a little dwarf star."

He shouldn't have underestimated a natural ball of fire, because a second later a pale finger was flicked towards him and a white explosion of light burned straight into his retina.

He cried out and stumbled back in reflex. When he opened his eye again, there was just darkness and a mass of grey spots in his sight. His night sight was completely ruined.

"Aahh, Allen, what did you do? You just blinded me!" He made sure his voice gave away how light hearted his words were.

"That's punishment for belittling a star. I'm still way bigger and heavier and brighter than you, stupid mortal."

Lavi chuckled. "Alright, alright, I'm sorry, mr. bright star."

"Alright then. I'll give you some light to make up for it." As promised the boy lit up again, glowing just enough to show their direct surroundings. It was like a second moon had appeared in the sky.

"Incredible, you can really shine like a star."

"Yeah, I don't do it very often as it can attract unwanted attention and humans tend to get freaked out by it. But even a dwarf star gives light, you know. Just not as much as Mana," he admitted shyly.

"But you still stayed close to him." It was a friendly statement.

Allen smiled brilliantly. "Yeah, it was great. We basically circled around each other. Wait, why don't we try it out together. Dance in the usual arc, then try to let me in too."

Lavi grinned, excited at the idea. He chose an arc and tried to stick close to it. He wasn't really sure about the rest of his moves, but he just decided to go with the flow. Allen didn't even seem to pay much attention to his dance moves. Instead he moved in and started circling around Lavi. Lavi moved backwards a little, offering the boy half of the arc, then mimicked the circling movement. Soon enough they were dancing in perfect arcs through the sky, but always staying close. Allen's face was glowing with happiness.

Still, Lavi couldn't help but frown a little as they kept taking steps around each other, always in the same circles, turning and swirling through the darkness. It was starting to feel all too familiar to him. This was basically the feeling he'd been having these past few days. "This seems all very nice and cozy and all, but still I would be super frustrated if I were that Mana guy."

Allen looked up from his trance in confusion. "What, why?"

Lavi smiled. "Well, if I was him I couldn't take it that you're here all the time, so close, but still out of reach. If I were him, I would do this." Clearly totally outside the expectation of the boy, he grabbed his companion and pulled him to his chest, wrapping his arms around Allen's small body. The boy was even warmer than usual. The glow wasn't just light apparently. The heat spread through the fabric of his shirt and warmed him to the core. When the boy started laughing, he could feel the muscles spasm under his skin, the voice rumble through Allen's chest.

"Lavi, you just made two stars collide. That usually causes mass destruction, you know."

He grinned, tightening his grip on his precious load. "I don't care. As long as you're so close, the whole world can fall apart around me."

Allen pushed them apart just a little. Lavi let it happen reluctantly. Silver eyes stared deep inside his. The thousands of tiny specks in the irises looked like a whole stellar system on its own. For a moment Lavi wondered if the dance they made when Allen laughed would be actable too.

Then he closed his eye, leaned in and pressed his lips on the boy's. Allen reacted by melting into his embrace. White light cut through his eyelids and the heat under his arms intensified. It was like their bodies continued where they had left off last time. Lavi felt his heart accelerate when he felt how Allen responded with the same strong desire that was filling his own mind. He let a hand travel upwards, to the boy's head, tangling his fingers in the soft hair. Their kiss got rougher. Allen's fingers were clashed in his shirt, pulling so hard it might actually rip apart.

But the magic was broken even more roughly then last time. Suddenly every muscle under Lavi's hand tensed. Allen's body froze, then, with all the strength he'd built up in the past few weeks, he pushed them apart.

Lavi opened his eye with shock to see the boy standing in front of him, his arms between them as a barricade. His head was bowed down, so his eyes were hidden behind his hair.

"We can't do this," his voice sounded stifled and he turned his face away. "However much I want this, I'm a star and a dragon. You're just a human, Lavi. This love is doomed. We can't go on with this. It will only lead to meaningless suffering."

All the heat inside him turned to a solid rock that crashed into his heart and collided it with the rest of the organs in his abdomen. "It wouldn't be meaningless." The corners of his mouth curled up desperately as he grabbed Allen's hand with his own. "Think of all the good things that can come out of this." He pulled it up and pressed his cheek against it. "Please, Al, I don't think I can stand seeing you circle around me all the time, always out of reach."

Allen jolted his hand out of his grip and backed away, clenching it with his other. "I'm sorry. I really wish we could be like that too, but I live for hundreds, thousands, maybe even billions of years, while you'll be away in the blink of an eye. As you age and wither, I'll just shine with the same light as always and when you die I'll be left alone. I can't do this. Not to you, to me, or us."

Lavi felt his hands fall next to his body. All hopes for what they had been building up together melted under the light that was starting to die out on Allen's skin. However much he wanted this, he knew the boy was right. All his life he'd spent with his nose in the books trying to find the truth about everything, but this time he wished he'd never had. Of all he'd ever learned, this was the most devastating.

"I'm sorry, Lavi," Allen whispered. A drop glittered in silver on its way down from the boy's face. "I'm really sorry." Then he sprouted two giant wings on his back and launched himself off in the air.

Lavi watched with a blurry vision as the white figure disappeared into the distance, until he seemed like he had returned between his own kind, out of reach forever, so one could only dream about ever getting that high.


	4. Chapter 4

"That's it. We're here."

They were the first words Allen had spoken since last night. Ever since the obvious rejection the mood had just been awkward and painful. None of the two had known what to say, so they had continued their journey in silence.

However, it all was pushed to the background when they were confronted with a building hidden inside nature. The stones it was made of were cracked and overgrown with plants that had sought refuge in the little slits. The colors that had once probably decorated it, had paled in the sun. Parts of the construction had spontaneously crumbled under the inevitable hand of time. An ancient temple would be the best way to describe it. Especially with the two dragon statues lying at the door. Most of the delicate scales and eyes had been scrubbed off by erosion, but Lavi was sure they had looked majestic at the time they had been made.

"So, this is where that Neah guy is sealed." Lavi let his eye travel over it in investigation. "It doesn't look much like a prison for great evil."

Allen's face was covered with shadows. "There's no doubt about it. This is where Neah sleeps." The muscles clenching his jaw showed how tense he was. "Legend says that Neah is an ancient dragon master that will control the last dragon, born in the night sky, to take down the stars and burn the earth. But it's just a story. I won't let it happen. I will kill him before he awakens."

Lavi watched his companion with worry as he walked up the stairs towards the entrance. He followed carefully. A feeling of discomfort settled deep in his stomach, but he was sure it was because of what Allen had told him and nothing else.

When they stepped in, it turned out that the state of the temple wasn't as bad as it had seemed from outside. Strangely enough, the room seemed perfectly maintained. The paintings on the walls, indicating stars and dragons, were as bright as if they had been made yesterday. The only sign of decay were the bats on the ceiling and the rat droppings on the floor.

In the middle of the little room, flooded with light from the entrance, was a heavy stone altar, with on it a massive coffin. With all the decoration everywhere else he would have expected some on there too, but the thing was completely bare, like the person inside of it wasn't worth the effort.

Allen's breath came out like mist from his mouth, even if the temperature hadn't dropped that low. A lightly burned smell spoke of its origin.

"Well, here we are." The boy sounded like he wasn't really sure where to continue now. "We finally made it and in time it seems."

"So what now? Do you think you can open that thing?"  
Insecurity passed over Allen's face. "I… I guess." He made his way towards the monument with little unsure steps. "It doesn't look too heavy for a dragon."

Lavi stepped aside to give some space, so two pale hands could lock on the massive stone lid and push it off on the other side. Then he quickly joined his companion, peering into the coffin curiously.

There he was.

A man with skin as dark as Road's lay on his back, seemingly asleep. Seven star-formed shapes scarred his forehead. The grey, sly hands were bound together on his chest with chains that glowed an eerie green light in the dusk of the temple. Strange, otherworldly inscriptions inside of them caught Lavi's eye, but he'd never seen them before in any book he'd read.

Finally he could hear Allen let his held in breath escape in a rough breeze.

"We're lucky. He doesn't seem like he'll pose much of a problem to defeat." He shot a look at his partner. "This is your chance."

Allen had gone even paler than usual. His hands trembled on the edge of the coffin. "Yeah, we made it in time."

"So what are you waiting for?" He tried to put his support in the question.

Allen pressed his lips together so tightly that they turned white. Then, with a flexibility Lavi could only dream of, he lifted his foot on the edge of the altar and pushed himself up. The boy climbed over the coffin, putting his feet on the edges, so he was standing over the resting man. One of his hands deformed, growing sharp claws and tiny scales.

"Go on, Al. Get rid of your tormentor. This is your moment to take your life back."

Allen nodded determinedly. He lifted the claw, fixing his eyes on the man's face. With an almost terrified scream he launched the attack…

and stopped just in front of the man's neck.

Lavi blinked in surprise.

Sweat dripped down from Allen's face. His eyes had gotten a haunted look. He pulled his weapon back again, then tried another attack. Again the claw stopped just before it tainted the dark skin.

"Al, are you okay?" Carefully he reached backwards, pulling his hammer from his belt. It was a nasty job to do something like this with it. But if his companion really needed the help…

He didn't even get the time to suggest it. Something, similar to gravity, seemed to get hold on his body and suddenly he was flying through the room. The stone walls didn't make a soft landing, nor did the ground under it. The already fragile construction crumbled and showered him with projectiles of aged rock. His body burst out in pain, almost completely numbing the rest of his senses. When the haze of hurt finally pulled up enough for him to see, there were suddenly multiple dark shadows in the room that hadn't been there before.

 _Noah_

Alarmed he tried to reach up to defend Allen, but his muscles wouldn't move. Something was still forcing him down. As he gave up, panting, his eyes met Road's, who smiled victoriously. So she was the one holding him down.

Allen had frozen on his spot. He seemed unable to move as a fat figure with clown's clothes and a high hat stepped forwards.

"Allen Walker, thank you for coming. We've been waiting for you. Nobody else but a dragon can kill Neah, but the same goes for the seal that's been holding him. Now, would you be so kind to free him of his chains?"

Allen's eyes had widened. His pupils had grown so much that almost all the silver had been swallowed by the blackness. Sweat was trickling into his collar. His muscles were trembling.

They had walked straight into their trap! Lavi couldn't believe it. After all the effort Allen had put into coming here to kill the man, this was how it ended up. He knew he had to help him somehow, but the power forcing him down was too strong. "Kill him, Al! You can do it!"

Allen didn't show any signs of hearing him.

The man however, of whom Lavi was pretty sure it was the earl as the books had described him, shot him a quick look before turning back to the boy. "Now, now, no need to stretch this so much. You know you can't go against these orders. He is the dragon master after all. He's been sleeping for a very long time already, give him the chance to finally open his eyes again."

"I… I can't…" All of Allen's muscles tensed, sending heavy tremors through his body. For a moment it was like he would somehow control himself, but just before Lavi could yell another form of support, the boy closed his eyes and the claw shot downwards.

Immediately silence fell over the room. Lavi scrambled desperately in a useless attempt to get up and see what had happened.

The earl's face was hard to read. A handsome Noah man had gotten a surprised expression. Road was just staring at the coffin in interest. The others didn't give away any more information.

Finally Allen opened his eyes. For a moment he stared at the results of his act, then he pulled back in shock, losing his balance and toppling over the edge onto the ground in front of the earl's feet. Then he pushed himself up and scrambled back, away from the altar.

This didn't seem good.

"Al, what did you do?"

Allen turned his head towards him, sending him a glance of pure terror. The silence was a clear answer.

And surely enough, a few seconds later, Neah rose from his sleeping place. His eyes were as pure golden as those of the other Noah as he took in the surroundings.

"Welcome home, dear Neah," the man bowed in front of the dragon master. "My sincere apologies you had to wait for so long."

Neah blinked slowly, then let his eyes travel over the party again. When they passed Lavi he could feel the gaze pierce straight through him: powerful, demanding, ruthless.

"Where's my dragon?"

It wasn't a real question, more like a demand. The earl turned around to Allen and pointed a finger at the boy. "He's here. He's the one who's claws set you free."

Allen froze. Neah investigated him coldly, then raised a hand, gesturing with his finger. "Come here, I want to see you."

The boy stayed where his was. Lavi could see how much effort it took him, but he still wasn't listening to the orders. A shimmer of hope rose in his chest. Maybe Allen could still end this. Neah didn't have full control over him.

However, the golden eyes narrowed dangerously. " **Come here** , I said."

The order was absolute. Allen crawled up almost mechanically, though clearly outside of his will, and made his way forward.

"Al, no! Don't listen to him!"

The boy turned his head to look back at him, but Neah grabbed his chin and spun it back forcibly to inspect it. He lifted it, then pulled it back down and seemed to look deep into the silver eyes.

"He looks strong and he's definitely a star. I'm taking this one."

A jolt ran through Allen's body. Then the boy started resist, tensing his muscles like he was fighting restraints.

The man rose his fingers to the stars on his head, pressing them to the scars firmly. Afterwards he reached out and pushed them on Allen's forehead.

The boy screamed. Struggling turned into a cramped state of agony. Lavi scratched over the ground, yelling in frustration and fear: "Allen!"

Finally Neah seemed done. He pulled his hands away, letting the boy drop on the floor. Allen's skin had turned dark. On his head were clearly the same star shaped scars the ones around him wore as well.

What was the meaning of this?

Neah finally got up from his coffin. He climbed out of it elegantly. The Noah gathered behind him.

Finally Allen was getting up too.

"Al, are you okay?" there wasn't a response. "Say something!"

"You, dragon." Immediately the boy's head shot up towards the dragon master. "We're going outside. Fly us towards the stars."

White brows knitted together in confusion.

"Aahh~," the earl interrupted with regret. "I'm afraid this dragon can't get us there. He's been banned himself."

Neah frowned, clearly displeased. "A dragon that can't bring us to the stars. How useless." However, he made his way outside and turned around. "Come here. We'll be flying somewhere else. We have some planning to do."

Allen's legs set in motion mechanically.

"No, Al, don't!" Lavi reached out with his hand, trying to catch a pale ankle as it passed him by. However, he couldn't get to it.

For a moment Allen turned his head. There was no recognition in the now golden eyes. They seemed empty. Though one desperate part in Lavi's mind thought he saw a glimpse of fear and sadness pass through them for just a second. Then the boy turned around and left.

Only when the beat of heavy wings had vanished, did the force stop pushing him down, but Lavi didn't feel like getting up anymore.

* * *

The journey home was possibly even more painful than his last few hours with Allen. It took him two miserable days to get to a train station. Then three more to make his way to The Order. The whole way he clenched the broken tooth in his hands until the point finally broke through his skin and it got smudged with blood. When the stars came out and stared at him through the cabin window, he would turn away his face, resentment filling him like acid. They had done this. They had sent Allen down like this. They hadn't warned them that the Noah were trying to use them to awaken Neah.

Road had been right, they didn't care about Allen at all.

And now his companion was fully under the dragon master's control.

He pushed the last remnant of his partner against his chest.

He didn't want to think of what they would let sweet, kind Allen do. He knew what the dragon thought of hurting people. Taking down the stars and burning the earth was one of his biggest nightmares and now he would be forced into taking part in it himself.

It just all hurt too much to think about.

The weather wasn't much more optimistic. As soon as he reached the tall tower on the island, the rain was showering from the sky like tears. Thunder rumbled like an angry dragon. Lavi entered drenched, his hands covered with blood and his clothes torn.

But the worst part was probably how he had to tell where he'd gone wrong.

Somehow he managed to fold out the whole story for Komui and his henchmen. The old man was there too. His eyes silent but judging. Afterwards he was sent away to take a shower and rest.

The hot water didn't feel as good as usually. He didn't wash himself, just dropped his head under it and wished he could somehow drown in the streams.

Sleep wouldn't come either, and instead of rest, he lay awake for half of the night, his head running wild on painful memories and feelings of guilt and self-resentment.

How could he ever had let this happen?

The question was still unanswered by the time he woke up again.

* * *

"The plan goes like this," Komui stood in front of a giant electronic screen. He spoke to the group of people gathered in front of him, Lavi one of them. As he had been in his room to rest, the scientists had taken their time to work out a solution for the situation. Now it was time they all got to know it.

"Most of the Noah were banned from the stars and thus lost their almost invulnerable position. They can be killed. Every Noah will be fought by groups of three to five people, led by one special agent. We'll divide those immediately after this."

The screen showed a picture of all the Noah. Most of them didn't tell Lavi much, but the sight of Road and the earl made his blood boil with anger again. It didn't get any better when a push on a button turned it into the man who had taken Allen away from him.

"Then, lastly, there's the fourteenth of them, the dragon master, Neah. When the stars banished him he'd already gathered so much power they couldn't rip him from his place in heaven the same way they did to the other Noah. According to our sources," with this the chief sent a quick look at Lavi, who tried to keep his face straight, "he can only be killed by a dragon. Unfortunately, our only dragon has fallen into their hands."

Another button press turned the image into Allen and Neah. The dragon's scales had turned dark grey. His eyes golden. It didn't look anything like his companion anymore, but Lavi knew it was him. His heart squeezed together in the wish to see the white dragon again the way he should be.

"So this is how we'll take care of this problem: long ago the stars gave us one sacred stone. The object was originally meant to bind our dragon to the earth if anything were to go wrong with the curse they had placed on him, but we're sure it should work on the dragon master too. This stone will cut all ties with the stars, turning the victim into a normal human. Since we only have one, it is more than logical we use it on Neah of all."

There was a little murmur of agreement.

"Then, lastly, we'll need to get to the dragon master first." Reluctance was clear in the chief's voice as he continued. "As mentioned before, our dragon has fallen in his hands and will defend him. This creature has to be handled with the utmost care. He's very powerful. If you get the tiniest chance, kill him. Using the stone on Neah will prove to be impossible otherwise."

Lavi could feel his blood turn to ice. He opened his mouth to protest, but Komui silenced him with one stern, but sad look.

"I know, Allen has been a precious colleague to some of you." Now Lavi realized he hadn't been the only one ready to make a move. "But I'm afraid there isn't another option. I hope you too, can see that it's the most humane thing we can do. Everyone here should know how gentle Allen was and how much he hated to see people hurt. Right now, he's being forced in doing terrible things. He must be in terrible pain. It's only merciful to put him out of his misery."

Right. He'd been thinking about it too. How much Allen had to be suffering right now. Komui wasn't wrong. Again the truth hurt like someone was using his heart like a pincushion. He clenched his hands into fists, thinking of what Allen really would have wanted. Then he lifted his face in determination. "I'll do it."  
Suddenly all faces turned to him. Komui's eyes widened in surprise.

"If anyone has to kill Allen, then it will be me," he stated, meeting the chief's gaze firmly. "I know how important it was for him to not fall under Neah's control. I'll get him out of there and take care of Neah."

Komui closed his eyes. For a moment it was very clear how hard all of it was on him as well. The mask of control reappeared on his face when he opened them again. "Alright, then that's been decided. Lavi Bookman, you will take care of Allen and, if possible, the dragon master."

* * *

He had said it back then, but as they made their way there, all of Lavi's doubts returned. He clenched Allen's fang in one hand, the stone meant for Neah in the other. Was there really no other way to fix this? Did he really have to kill Allen?

He had a new hammer on his belt too. Just before they had left The Order, the scientists had come up to him with the weapon. They had thought he might need something better to fight a dragon. This thing could apparently grow in size and extend to great limits. It was perfect for reaching distant targets, something very useful when your opponent was a flying dragon.

And useful it proved indeed. They finally got to the Noah a few days later, inside a big city. Night had fallen and the buildings shone in a cold grey shine. Their opponents had apparently been waiting for them, because they were standing in an orderly line with Neah flying on his dragon above them.

Fortunately, The Order was very orderly too. The members knew exactly what their jobs were. Before the Noah could make a move of their own, the assigned groups chased up to their own opponent and pulled them into a fight. Their screams and yells in the heat of battle echoed through the dark air, filling Lavi's veins with adrenaline.

He was lucky. He didn't look like much of a fighter at all, so nobody really paid any attention to him as he pulled the hammer from his belt. He breathed deeply and tried to not look the dragon in his eyes as he swung the object back. Then, giving it a mighty shove he yelled: "Extend… grow!"

The weapon, suddenly as big as a house, crashed into the reptile. Allen cried in agony as a nauseating cracking sound echoed through the streets. The impact blew the two away, making the dragon crash out of sight.

The hammer had shrunk and disappeared again so fast, that most Noah were still searching around in shock in an attempt to find the one responsible for hurting their leader. When members of The Order distracted them with a fight again, Lavi managed to slip out without getting noticed. Of the group of seven that had been assigned to him, only three managed to do the same.

They ran between the houses, following the enormous cloud of dust that was starting to form after Allen's impact. However, as soon as they arrived, they were met by a sea of flames.

The two men in front of Lavi screamed. Only one of them rolled when he hit the ground. The other stayed motionless. He himself could feel the heat of the flames scorch his skin, but he got away much more lucky.

The dragon roared dangerously as he reared up. One of his wings lay on the ground in a strange angle, but even earth-bound, the reptile would be very dangerous.

"Al, I'm here buddy!" He couldn't help but hope the words would somehow reach the boy. "I'll get you out of this, I promise!"

It seemed to work. The dragon calmed down a little, letting its body slide back on the ground.

"So you're the cause." Neah was standing next to the reptile by now. He was beating the dust from his clothes. However, apart from a few tears in the fabric, he seemed perfectly unharmed. "I've been wondering why this stupid animal wasn't completely obedient, but now I get it. It's you." He turned his golden glaze to the winged creature next to him. "Well, lucky me. That means I can fix it now. You, dragon,"

Allen's golden eyes widened.

"Kill the red haired guy."

A low, dangerous rumble collected in the creature's throat. Smoke escaped through its nostrils.

"Wait, Al, it's me." The memory of that day with Road returned. Then a rampaging, furious Allen, had somehow heard him through the red haze. Careful, just like that time, he closed in on the reptile. "You don't have to kill me. Nobody but you can decide what you want to do."

The animal lifted its lips, baring a row of pointy white teeth.

"You were so mad at me when I called you beansprout, are you really going to let a guy like that treat you even worse? Shouldn't you at least drop a bottle of ink on his head too?"

Apparently something was holding Allen back. The reptile was still just growling at him. It hadn't taken any preparation to actually hurt him.

"and what about the stars? Aren't you going to return? When I saw you dancing like that, that night, I knew you belonged there. If you stay like this, you will never be able to."

He put a hand on Allen's snout, just like that other time. The scales felt warm and smooth as always. The desire to climb on his companion's neck and just fly away took him over. He smiled painfully. He would never do that again. He knew he was just stretching this to create his chance. He knew sooner or later Allen would have to obey his comment.

Neah folded his arms in annoyance. His foot was resting on the last man of their group. Only Lavi was left. And soon he might be reptile food as well.

The man narrowed his golden eyes. "I said to kill him. Now get on to it!"

A flash of pain shot through the eyes of the dragon. The muscles under Lavi's hands rippled when the reptile's snarl grew even more. However, he was still unmoving.

Lavi leaned forward, pressing his forehead against the giant grey nose. "I know you can't resist him, Al. I'm really sorry it has to end like this. You will probably hate me after this." He smiled sadly as he scratched the scales. "and it's okay if you do. You'd have all the right to. I rather have you circling around me, out of reach, than not at all. I'm sorry."

"KILL HIM!" Neah had lost the last of his patience.

The order was so harsh, that Allen jolted upwards in response, roaring towards the dark sky. Then he curled back like a snake. His maw opened. Red lights danced at the back of his throat. Flames, meant for the human in front of him.

Lavi clenched his hand around the tooth. He stared into the face of death. Memories bubbled up. Allen and he on the train roof, talking about the stars. Allen crying into the folds on his shirt. Allen dancing in the starlight, his skin glowing a miraculous white light. Allen's lips, brushing over his. Allen's breath as it filled his lungs.

Allen really was going to hate him for this.

His other hand shot out of his pocket, holding the smooth, round object he'd been carrying ever since his visit at The Order. Sending a little, desperate prayer to the stars he pulled his arm back, then swung it straight at the reptile.

The sacred stone cut through the air like a projectile. Even Neah, suddenly coming into action of shock, couldn't stop it before it reached its goal.

It disappeared straight into the light dancing in the dragon's mouth, deep into the creature's innards.

Lavi watched the reptile convulse with a sinking feeling. It howled, squirming in agony. Finally the golden eyes rolled away and the giant serpent body went limp, colliding with the ground with a deep rumble that shook the ground. The contours shimmered, then the beast started to shrink, scales disappeared. Claws shortened and rounded. The grey color turned to a pale skin and light hair that dulled to a natural white color. A normal, human boy was lying on the ground. Unconscious, but breathing.

Lavi had just taken the biggest risk of his life. He might just as well have condemned the world to a future of burning.

Still he knew he couldn't have done it any other way.

"YOU!" A hand locked on his throat, smashing him into a wall with inhuman force. "How dare you take MY DRAGON!" Two golden eyes cut through him like knives. Neah's dark face had contorted into a furious grimace of killer intent. "This is it. You've just surpassed your boundaries there. You're going to die in long and pure agony."

The hand around his throat tightened. Lavi wrestled in its grip. His hand slipped in his jacket, finding Allen's fang. He clenched it, closing his eye and letting memories of the boy grab hold on him once more. If Allen could just live, that would be enough for him.

"I'll let you watch as the world burns and everyone dies. I'll let you scream until your voice dies and you beg me, whispering, for death. Even then, I will torture you, until your little mortal heart uses up the last of its strength and sputters out softly." The mouth of the man cracked open in a grin that made Lavi's blood turn to acid. "And there's nothing you can do about it. You wasted the only means of defeating me on that stupid dwarf star. You're out of options now."

It was a stupid idea. A risk he should never have taken. It was the tiniest presumption that it might work. Still, Neah was almost right. He was out of options now. He had just this last one. The one he hadn't spoken about with Komui, because he'd been sure the chief would have put him on another team if he had.

He pulled his hand out of his pocket, clenching the hard object in it so tightly that he might have broken it if it hadn't been made from dragon enamel. He grinned at the man, then launched his arm upwards in front of him.

The dragon master's face cramped in shock when Lavi felt the object in his hand sink into flesh. The eyes opened so far that the white around them was clearly visible. Pupils, dark as black holes, ate up the golden irises.

"You…"

The hand around Lavi's throat loosened. But the redhead didn't stop yet. He kept pushing, his hands sinking further and further. Something jolted at the fang a few short moments, then the man collapsed.

Neah, the dragonmaster, was forced to the ground by the redhead, a dragon fang deep in his chest, puncturing the black heart.

Finally the redhead let go of his weapon. His fingers were sticky with dark blood. His own heartbeat suddenly felt strange and miraculous in his chest.

He'd done it. He'd killed Neah, no, Allen had killed Neah.

Tears jumped in his eye as he stared at the dark man in front of him. He'd done it. He'd freed Allen from his tormentor, and given him a new one instead. A single tear slid down his cheek. He'd saved him, but imprisoned him in the worst way possible.

He'd even taken flying away from the star.

Still his legs raised him and carried him to his partner. The boy was still lying on the ground. Lavi kneeled in front of him and stared at the pale face, looking so peaceful in his sleep. This was probably the last time he was going see it again. Allen really was going to hate him after this.

Eyelids shivered, then fluttered open. A set of grey eyes discovered the world with confusion. When Allen tried to get up, his arms folded back in and Lavi had to catch him to prevent the pale face hitting the tiles.

"What…?" Allen shook his head in confusion while he let himself get helped up to his knees by his companion. "What happened?"

The boy stared at the dark body next to them in silence, then back at the redhead. "Is this a dream? My body feels so different too. It's like gravity has gotten even a little stronger."

However much he wished to do it, he couldn't lie. Not now. "It's not dream, Al." He stared straight into the grey eyes, confronting his own guilt and responsibility of what he'd done as he continued: "I just cut all your bonds with the stars. You're a normal human now. Your fang was the thing that killed Neah."

Allen turned his face away in disbelief. His eyes stocked on the man lying on the ground, a pointy tooth sticking out of his chest.

"I'm sorry, Al," Lavi whispered softly, "I couldn't kill you, but I did something probably much more horrible instead. You definitely won't return to the stars anymore. You won't even be able to fly."

However, when the boy looked back there wasn't any resentment on his face. The sadness was there, but it wasn't nearly as much as that night the dragon hadn't been able to return to his home. Instead the boy smiled through the pained emotions. "You didn't kill me. The Order and even the stars had planned to kill me once I got under Neah's control, but you didn't. When everyone would have lost faith you still tried for me." Tears glittered like tiny stars over the pale cheeks. "Thank you, Lavi. Even if I can't fly, being alive, next to you, means much more to me. I knew long ago already, that I would never return, because even if I would, it wouldn't be the same without Mana."

Lavi leaned his face closer, their noses almost touching. "You're really not angry?"  
Allen closed the last distance. The skin of his cold, soft nose felt almost healing on Lavi's scorched face. "No, of course not."

Lavi wrapped his hands around the delicate boy, pulling him close. For the first time, tears didn't stop streaming from his eye. They blurred his surroundings, making the sensation of touch even stronger. "You know, Al," his voice cracked desperately, "we aren't a human and a dragon now anymore."

Allen's body shocked. His breath came out in short bursts. Was he crying or…?

When the boy grabbed his face and pressed a kiss on his forehead he realized it was both. Allen moved downwards, pressing his head against Lavi's. "I know." The whisper was almost too soft to hear, but the kiss said more than any word could.

This time there wasn't anyone breaking them apart. Lips brushed over each other gently. Hands caressed soft skin. Fingers tangled through red and white hair.

The salt of tears filled his mouth, but strangely, it tasted miraculously sweet to Lavi.


End file.
